


Revenge of the Vampire

by Razial



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 17:15:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 33,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10223210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Razial/pseuds/Razial
Summary: Xander seeks revenge against Buffy and the group for exiling him and turning him into the thing he hates the most.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is AU for Buffy. Angel did not leave for LA and is now human thanks to Buffy and Amy doing a spell that switched his vampiric body with Xander's human one. Amy is not a rat, but a part of the group since the episode where the parents tried to kill their kids. Faith is also still a part of the group having been redeemed before the battle with the Mayor. Tara is slightly different than in canon to fit the story, in this she is bi and not a straight lesbian.

Revenge of the Vampire

Author: Razial

Beta: Hawklan

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any other characters from the show. I also do not own any of the connected media they belong to Joss Whedon and anyone else who owns the rights.

Pairing: Xander/Tara

Summary: Xander seeks revenge against Buffy and the group for exiling him and turning him into the thing he hates the most.

Notes: This is AU for Buffy. Angel did not leave for LA and is now human thanks to Buffy and Amy doing a spell that switched his vampiric body with Xander's human one. Amy is not a rat, but a part of the group since the episode where the parents tried to kill their kids. Faith is also still a part of the group having been redeemed before the battle with the Mayor. Tara is slightly different than in canon to fit the story, in this she is bi and not a straight lesbian.

 

A big thank you to cloudleonsgurl for her fanart. You can find this one and other great ones here:  
http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-24255-203/cloudleonsgurl+The+Worlds+She+Never+Walked.htm

 

Chapter 1

(Sunnydale Wilton Graveyard, Night Time)

Xander Harris leaned against the tree he was currently perched on and watched as Buffy Summers and her friends patrolled the graveyard they were currently in. He recalled how he used to be a part of the group doing all he could to help them. But not anymore, now he was a damn vampire and it had not been by choice or even just cause he had been stupid and gotten caught out late. No, magic had turned him into a vampire. Magic controlled by Amy Madison and ordered by Buffy herself.

It had all started during the damn crisis with Angelus when he had been forced to lie to Buffy to ensure the world kept spinning, Buffy had finally found out about it and gone mad, but in time it seemed she had come to terms with his choice and realised he had done it for the best. How wrong he had been, how stupid he had been to think she would let it go so easily and forget. As the next year progressed he had noted her attitude towards him had worsened and she had begun to push him out of the group. She saw him as useless, a liability at best. Giles, Amy, Oz, Cordelia hell even Willow had all agreed with her and aided her, saying they wanted to protect him from being hurt. Faith the new Slayer who had arrived to help them was the only one who did not think such things. He had grown friendly with her and even lost his virginity to her.

But she had a bad life, even worse than his own and by sleeping with her, he had cemented in her mind that he was like any other guy and after only one thing. Thus he was not able to stop her from her descent into the darkness after she had accidentally killed someone. This was after Angel had somehow returned from hell and Buffy welcomed him back as if nothing had happened.

Of course the others all fell into line and accepted this and after a brief attempt by Faith and himself on his life they had backed off as well. That was when, unknown to him at the time, Buffy, Amy and Giles had found an ancient scroll in a tomb that had been ransacked by some vampires. On the scroll was a spell of great power, it had the ability to transfer energy from one body to another. This included things such as vampirism and even disease, Buffy of course only had one idea for this spell and that was to turn Angel into a human by transferring his vampirism to someone else and thus make them into a vampire. Giles had refused to aide her and left, foolishly thinking that without his help Buffy would give up her idea. Of course he was dead wrong and Buffy had convinced Amy to aide her. Amy had begun to misuse her magic and had started to get corrupted from her exposure to black magic. Not surprisingly Buffy ignored the danger so consumed that she was by her need to have Angel as a human lover. 

The fact she had chosen him to be her sacrifice was not really any surprise these days, he had been doomed from the moment she had learned of his lie. From what he had learned Angel had been all for it, seeing it as payback for his time in hell. The pain the spell caused him as it ripped his humanity from him was unlike anything he had felt before. He had suffered for what felt like hours, finally he had blacked out and when he had woken up he had found himself a god damn vampire. Unused to the new feelings cursing through his system he had ended up draining his father dry right in front of his mother. He had then done the same to her ignoring her screams of mercy. He had slept then only to wake that morning horrified by what he had become. He had hidden the bodies and then waited for it to go dark before going to see the gang. He had found Buffy and Amy waiting for him and from them learned of what they had done, he was then told to leave town and never come back or he would be staked. He had fled, during the next couple of months he had grown used to being a vampire and now he was back for revenge.

He had found an old Egyptian wizard who had helped him cement his soul in place as well as allow him to venture out into the sun for a few hours at best. He had also found another wizard this time a Chinese one who had found a way to ensure anyone he turned would keep their soul as well and this would be very useful in his revenge. He wondered why other vampires had not looked for such things before. Most likely they were already overcome by their blood lust due to the demon inside them. He was far more in control of himself than the demon, most likely due to the fact he had not been turned the normal way.

However he was no longer a nice guy, what had happened to him had burned away the goodness he had once had and he now planned to take control of Sunnydale, but only after he had dealt with his betrayers. As he watched the group fight two newbies he was surprised to see Faith join them with another girl and felt like he had been punched in the gut. That girl was beautiful. He had no idea who she was. She was not someone he had known before, but whoever she was he liked her. He watched as the vampires were staked and the group talked. He guessed Faith had been redeemed whilst he had been away.

He watched as the girl seemed to be very friendly with Willow and Faith, he wondered if he could use that to get close to her. Because if there was one thing he knew it was that he wanted that girl to be his, as the group moved off he followed, knowing neither Slayer would detect him thanks to the amulet he had purchased which kept his presence hidden even from magical means of detection.

On the ground Buffy listened as Faith told her how her patrol had gone with Tara, she was still uncertain around he fellow Slayer and was always wondering if she could actually be trusted. Giles and the others seemed to think she had redeemed herself after her fall last year, in which she helped the Mayor fight them. Angel at least listened to her and agreed to keep an eye on her. Sometimes she still could not believe he was human again, that the spell had worked way beyond what she imagined. It had also got rid of Xander who was now probably hiding somewhere afraid of her threat to stake him. When asked by Amy if she regretted what she had done to her former friend, she had turned and looked blankly at her and replied that she had done the right thing for her Angel. Amy had just nodded and walked away.

She looked at the group she led and wondered what they would say if they knew the truth about what she had done to make Angel human, Giles of course would have let the truth out of the bag had Amy not altered his memories. Tara and Willow would argue about the consequences of using such a spell, as well as the cruelty involved in inflicting vampirism on someone else, not that she cared about how Xander felt after he had made sure Angel had to be sent to hell. Faith would probably play hell as well as she had been friends with Xander and she still disliked Angel, even now that he was human. In the end she guessed it was best that only she and Amy knew the truth.

"Hey Buffy, you ok?" Willow inquired as she noted the distracted look on the blonds face. "I'm fine Willow, just a little tired," Buffy lied and only glanced at her friend. "I guess we better wrap this up before we head home," she decided. "Remember we have a long day tomorrow. All those damn test at the University," she reminded her friend.

"I remember, it should be fun," Willow gushed, looking forward to proving her intellect. "Geek," Faith teased, before pausing and glancing uneasily around, but she saw nothing. "You see something Faith?" Tara asked noting her friend's look. "No, but I have this gut feeling something is watching us," Faith replied as she kept looking around, but it was too dark.

"You're seeing things Faith," Buffy told her. "Let it go and keep going," she added with a shake of her head.

Up in the tree's Xander watched them walk away and as surprised Faith had sensed him even with the amulet. He would have to be careful around her from this point. He wondered why her senses were sharper than Buffy's before he remembered Faith was the active Slayer, no matter what Buffy thought she was only a ghost of the Slayer spirit. He should be glad Oz had left Sunnydale a month ago. He doubted it would work against werewolf senses considering how Faith seemed to pick him up. He followed the group to the end of the graveyard and watched as they split up, from there he found himself following Willow and the new girl as if drawn to her. They walked all the way to the University dorm. He had to kill another vampire who seemed intent on making them a snack. He broke the vampire's neck before punching his fist through its stomach. It dusted as he began to pull its heart out. Neither Willow nor her friend noticed him, as he wiped the blood of his hand and watched as they entered the dorms. He smiled as a plan began to form in his mind. Turning he headed back to the warehouse he had made his home, tomorrow he would ensure he met up with this girl and see if he could get close to her.

+++

(Sunnydale Dorms, Next Morning)

Tara Maclay exited the dorm room she shared with her friend Jessica Nelson hoping to pop into town and get some things before classes began. The patrol the night before had run a little later than normal. Willow had kept her up for another ten minutes wanting to chat about magic after they had finished the patrol. Sometimes she wanted to tell her to just give the subject a rest, but she would rather Willow came to her for lessons than Amy, who gave her the creeps due to the heavy residue of black magic she could sense on her. She had tried to discuss this with Giles, but to very little affect. The close knit group would not hear her concerns.

As she entered town she began to grow aware of someone watching her, taking a quick look around her she soon noted a man about her age on the other side of the street. He was wearing a black trench coat, black jeans and t-shirt, had short black hair and brown eyes. Something about him sent a chill down her spine, but she couldn't tell if it was a good chill or a bad chill. She locked eyes with him for a few seconds, seconds in whom she saw pain, anger, and desire. Yet she did not look away because she also saw something else, she also saw wisdom. She finally looked away and entered the coffee shop to get a coffee and a sandwich, she failed to see the stranger cross the road and take up a position near the door.

Xander waited, knowing he would have to play this carefully if he wanted to get close to the girl, he also had to ignore the glare of the sun which irritated him, but thankfully the magic from the Egyptian wizard protected him from burning and would hold for at least five hours. He had to stop himself from moving from one foot to the other as he was nervous for the first time in a long while. What was this hold she had on him, he had only seen her for the first time last night and yet it was like she now clouded his mind. He shook his head and reminded himself he was here for revenge. He would have to keep his focus on that or he might end up being staked. Sudden movements at his side made him turn to see the girl pause at the door and take notice of him before turning away. However he noted a small smile pass her lips as she did so.

Tara felt the young man follow her and she headed for the magic shop for a few supplies, he was clearly interested in her and that sent another shiver down her spine in anticipation. It had been a while since she had a date, due to getting involved with Willow and her friends with the Slaying had taken a lot of her time. Maybe it was best to spend some time on herself for a short while before she burnt out. Glancing back at the young man she noted his eyes run up and down her body and a slow smile graced his features. This clearly told her he liked what he saw and that gave her a thrill of pleasure, she liked knowing she was attractive and whilst she was still skittish around men due to her background she did like guys now and again.

Finally she came to a dead stop just a few shops away from her destination and turned to face the young man who also came to a halt and looked slightly surprised. "Can I help you?" she inquired, doing her best to keep a smile of her face.

"I guess I deserved that after following you," Xander responded, letting out a small laugh and shaking his head. "I hope I did not make you nervous, but ever since I saw you last night I've been wanting to get to know you," he informed her.

"And when did you see me last night?" Tara asked put on guard by that statement, before relaxing somewhat when she remembered it was early morning right now and he was standing in front of her and suffering no ill effects from the sun.

Realizing his mistake and cursing his slip up Xander quickly thought up a cover. "I was walking home from the bronze, a little drunk when I saw Summers and her group walk by and there you were next to Rosenberg and it was like I had been hit by a truck," he told her. "I was going to try and talk to you right then, but considering it was night time I figured you might mistake me for something else and left it for today," he finished with his most charming smile.

Tara was surprised by the elusion to vampires as Buffy and the others always seemed to think people in Sunnydale were clueless to the truth. Clearly that was not the case and it was clear Buffy's group was known to some of the people in town. She wondered how many knew the truth.

"I see, and you would be?" she finally responded.

"My name is Alexander or Xander for short," Xander replied noting the slight frown this brought to the girl's face and wondered how much she knew about him and his past with the group if anything.

Tara found it odd for her suitor to have the same first name as Willow's former friend and what was even odder now that she thought about it was that he looked like him too. She had seen a picture taken during Buffy's first year in Sunnydale which he featured in. However, according to them, Xander had been a victim of a vampire, due to his own stupidity in trying to play the hero one night during patrol. She looked the young man over and noted the similarities between them. Yet how could he be the same person? As this guy was standing in broad daylight. She decided it must be just one of those things that happen in life. She had seen plenty of people who resembled other people, so she guessed this were just one more of those.

"My name is Tara," she finally told him, missing the relieved look that passed over his face. "So Xander, what do you do?" she inquired as she turned and headed to the magic shop, indicating he should walk beside her which he did.

"I'm in construction at the moment. Still learning the trade, but it's interesting," Xander lied easily having grown used to having to lie to people enough that he did not give himself away. "I didn't have the money to go to University and I didn't want to stay with my parents due to some bad history," he explained.

Tara almost came to a halt again as he let that bit of information out. It seemed that he might have had a similar experience as her own childhood. She glanced at him before she entered the magic shop and Xander followed her, missing the fact that Buffy and Angel were across the street walking towards Giles house. Neither saw the other as Buffy was too busy talking to Angel and Angel only missed him due to Buffy drawing his attention back to her as he looked around.  
2\. Chapter 2  
Chapter 2

(Sunnydale University)

Willow frowned as Jessica told her that Tara had already left ten minutes before she had arrived. She thanked the girl and wandered away. She had wanted to continue her discussion with Tara about transportation spells from last night, oh well she guessed she would have to wait for a bit until she bumped into Tara again. She wandered around knowing Buffy had spent the night at Angel's instead of the dorm they shared. She felt sad as she recalled her own former boyfriend Oz. He had left her two months ago after an incident with a fellow werewolf he had been forced to kill and she still felt the pain of their breakup even now.

As she neared the cafeteria she bumped into Amy and quickly fell into a discussion about magic with her. The best thing about Amy was she did not refuse to discuss some topics relating to magic as Tara did. That annoyed her because it made her feel like her friend did not trust her to use magic responsibly, like she did not have enough experience to control the more advanced types of magic. Amy would teach her whatever she wanted to know, her power was growing and soon she hoped to be able to match both Amy and Tara in the power stakes.

"So where is Tara?" Amy asked, her tone not hiding the dislike she felt for the other girl although Willow ignored it just as she usually did. Amy did not like Tara due to the fact the other girl knew she was into black magic and had tried to warn Giles. Of course a quick memory charm had stopped the watcher from bringing this up during their next Scooby meeting. That Giles had let his magic skills fall so easily that she could play with his mind annoyed her, she knew his history thanks to Buffy and Willow and kept wishing she could have seen him in his prime. What spells he might have taught her, to her magic was an addiction and one she gladly fell into and wanted more off.

The spell she had cast on Xander at Buffy's behest had changed her entire life and made her see the truth about magic. It was the best way to power and had begun her downward spiral into addiction. Buffy didn't care about her misuse of magic and neither did the others, bar Tara and Giles and thankfully she could alter Giles' memories so that he kept forgetting the problem. But Tara was another matter entirely. Her skills were above even her own as she had been practicing witchcraft since she was a child in secret with her mother. The only reason she put up with her was that she was useful during patrols.

"Her roommate said she went into town for some supplies and a quick breakfast," Willow's response broke her train of thoughts. "Is she planning a casting?" Amy asked, slightly interested to learn what Tara might have planned. "Not that I know of Amy," Willow responded with a shake of her head. "She usually tells me when she is so that I can watch," she added. "I guess she is just running low on some things," she suggested to which Amy nodded.

"Yeah like she'd show you any real magic," Amy muttered just loud enough to be heard by Willow, her tone full of contempt.

"What do you mean Amy?" Willow demanded to know, coming to a dead stop.

"Tara believes magic is dangerous and only uses very small light sided spells," Amy responded. "And that is all she will show you Willow, she will keep you weak and ignorant of the stronger stuff, because she thinks you can't control them," she explained, hoping this would be enough to break the friendship between the red head and the dark blond haired girl or at least weaken it.

Willow looked at Amy for a few moments as she thought over the other girl's words. She didn't like them and slowly she felt a buildup of anger well up, but not at Amy. It was directed at Tara for holding her back. She ignored an inner voice that said Tara was just taking her training slowly. She wanted to learn magic, all types of magic. The idea that Tara would not be teaching her the higher level spells annoyed her to no end, she began to walk to her destination again unaware of the smile that Amy wore as her words worked their poison.

+++

(Sunnydale)

Tara sat with Xander in the local park still talking over various things. She had not been able to leave just yet having enjoyed her discussion with the young man. He was a friendly person and had made her laugh on a couple of occasions, she found herself enjoying his company. A quick glance at her watch showed she had been talking to him for close to an hour, which meant she only had a few minutes to get to class or she'd be late.

"I'm sorry Alex, but I'm going to have to cut this short as I have class in a few minutes," she finally told him, hating that fact and noting the slight frown that crossed his features.

"I understand Tara, however I would like to see you again sometime," Xander responded, knowing he would have to be patient and not try and rush his attempted seduction. "Maybe you would consent to go on a date with me tonight?" he inquired.

"I'd like that Xander, I could do with a nice night out," Tara answered, pleased by his request of a date. Usually she was a lot more wary when accepting dates even from other girls, but something about Xander put her at ease. She gave him the address to her dorm as well as her phone number before leaving as Xander did the same thing although the address he gave her was his old one. He watched her leave and actually felt a slight ache in his chest as her departure. This confused him as he was not exactly here for a good reason. He guessed the girl just had the ability to get under his skin and he would have to be more careful around her.

+++

(Sunnydale University)

Tara entered the classroom fifteen minutes late much to her professor's annoyance, but he accepted her excuse and she sat down at the back, ignoring the looks Buffy and Willow sent her. She knew why they looked surprised as she was never late. She also knew they would question her as to why she had been late. She would not tell them about Xander. He would be her little secret or at least another little secret. She still feared her family would show up one day and try and take her back, but she wouldn't go. She did not believe their tales about being a demon. Anyway she knew Buffy and the others kept secrets from each other, so why should she not keep any? Hell with the way they ignored Amy's misuse of magic she wondered sometimes why she trusted them so much. Shaking her head she turned and concentrated on what the professor was saying. It did not take long for her mind to wander and thinking of what tonight would bring. This of cause got noticed by her professor who berates her for not paying attention. This again caused Buffy and Willow to look at here in surprise. Finally the bell rang and the class packed up. Tara quickly tried to get out before she could n be intercepted by Buffy and Willow, but they were already waiting for her at the door.

"So why where you late and what had you so distracted you got shouted at in class?" Buffy inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah that is so unlike you Tara," Willow put in, doing her best not to look to interested in the answer, which irked Tara and made her decision to keep quiet about Alex the best option. "I bumped into an old friend and we sat down for a talk and before I knew it class was about to begin," Tara lied, feeling only a little bad for doing so, but she did not want to know what either of the two in front of her would say once they learned she had a date tonight.

Buffy and Willow had a tendency to try and take charge of things like dates with others, hell she remembered once when Giles had an old lady friend visit and they had interrogated him on the subject before offering all types of suggestions for the evening. Giles had got quite fed up with them as she recalled and she did not want to deal with that.

"An old friend who just happened to be in Sunnydale?" Buffy said skeptically as she gazed at her friend with narrowed eyes. Something about what she had said sounded off.

"Yes, she was passing through to LA," Tara said, annoyed by Buffy's tone. "Is there a problem with me seeing an old friend, Buffy?" she asked letting a bit of her annoyance show in her voice.

"No, I just find it odd is all," Buffy shot back, realizing she was annoying Tara. "I guess I am just paranoid these days and seeing odd coincidences everywhere," she back peddled. "Sorry didn't mean to imply anything," she stated before moving off with Willow in tow.

Tara watched them leave before shaking her head in relief that they had bought her story, as she headed to her history class she wondered how her date would go.  
3\. Chapter 3  
Chapter 3

(Warehouse)

Xander leaned back in a chair he had found and watched the TV he had stolen. He was surprised by how easy it was to hook up a layer with things such as electricity if you know who to see. As soon as he had arrived in Sunnydale a week ago, he had started making contacts and ensuring his home was set up. It had everything he needed including a bed, fridge, table and a sofa and chair set. They had been brought from a local demon supplier for only $250, getting power to his new dwelling had been a bit more expensive costing $400, but he considered it money well spent as he could relax here, while he waited for sundown.

He remembered all the times he used to watch TV with Willow at either her house or Jesse's, now those memories were bitter ones. He was certain Willow had fallen for Buffy's lies as to his fate. Had she been half a friend to him as Jesse had been she should have demanded proof and seen through the lies, but since becoming friends with Buffy his friendship with Willow had weakened and become less important to her. He now doubted how much he had mattered to the red head at all, considering how easily she had pushed him away at Buffy's behest. Getting up he decided to have a snack, something he had learned about vampires was that they could eat normal food if they wanted. Most just preferred blood, hell even Angel had preferred cattle blood more than real food. He wondered what this said about the man's true character.

As he settled back down he wondered what the gang would say if they knew some of the things he had learned about vampiric culture, things no one, but vampires themselves knew the truth of. They probably wouldn't believe him, but it would be fun seeing the looks on their faces. ‘Ah lost opportunities,' he thought. He quickly ate his sandwich and then turned his mind to what to do on his date with Tara tonight. He couldn't take her to the Bronze as he ran the risk of running into Buffy and the others. He quickly decided to take her to the new restaurant that had opened in town. He had noted since being back that there were quite a few new shops opening. Maybe with the Mayor being dead some of the darkness of this place had fallen, granted with the Hellmouth it would never be the best place to settle down, but people just don't seem to care.

+++

(Giles Residence)

Rupert Giles sighed as he listened to Buffy talk about her classes and how things were going with Angel as if he really wanted to know. Since losing his job at the library with the destruction of the high school he'd had little to do. He had even less to do with the slaying than normal, unless Buffy and her friends ran into something truly difficult. He felt rather useless and yet Buffy seemed to think he was her councilor or something of the like. He needed something to do, his mind wandered yet again to the possibility of buying into the local magic shop.

"Giles, are you even listening to me?" Buffy's complaint broke though his musings.

"Of course I am Buffy," Giles replied, doing his best not to let any of his anger slip into his tone. "I always listen to you," he added. ‘Even if I don't always wish to,' he added silently. "I am sure Tara is not hiding anything. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that she ran into an old friend of hers who was passing through on her way to LA," he told her, proving he had indeed been listening to her. He stood up and began pacing a little. "You have to remember we do not know that much about her, as she is still new to the group when compared to others," he reminded her with a pointed look.

"I still don't like it," Buffy muttered, feeling Tara had been less than honest with her and Willow. Something about it bugged her and since Xander's lie she had grown not to trust people at face value. "Buffy please just let it go," Giles responded sighing a little. "Tara is a gentle soul. I do not believe she has it in her to harm anyone," he informed her. "She does her best to help you during patrol and has picked up Willow's tutoring in magic. You should show some appreciation and trust her," he went on. "Now I suggest you get back to University before you miss your next class," he finished as he turned to show her to the door.

Buffy followed still a little annoyed that Giles would not take her worry seriously, but decided to do as he had said. In the end she did agree Tara was basically harmless. At the beginning she stuttered a lot and was always nervous around them. Her friendship with Faith seemed to have helped her gain some confidence in herself, but she could still be shy at times. Saying goodbye to Giles she headed back to campus grounds. She wondered what she and Angel were going to do on their date tonight.

+++

(Sunnydale Dorms, Night Time)

Tara looked at herself in the mirror and thought she looked fine for a first date. She had on a pair of jeans along with a black jumper over a t-shirt. All in all she thought she looked fine and hoped Xander thought the same. She was slightly nervous how the date would progress, but she was still looking forward to the night ahead.

Hearing a knock at her door she took a deep breath and moved over to answer it. She was happy to see Xander on the other side wearing a form fitting black shirt and jeans combo that showed he was a very fit person. She couldn't help but to give him a once over missing the fact he did the same thing to her. Neither noticed they seemed captivated by the other until both shook their heads to clear their thoughts.

"Hey Tara, you look great," Xander said doing his best to keep his eyes locked on her face. Her allure was powerful and he had a hard time concentrating which was strange as he had not had such a problem before he had been turned. ‘What was it about her that drew him in so much?' he wondered.

"Thanks Xander, you look good too," Tara replied, doing her best not to blush and cursed her shyness, but she managed it. Her upbringing had always made her shy of boys, especially those she had dated which had only been three before Xander. She hated the fact that she was so unsure around boys and other people she had only just met, yet there was something about Xander that made it far easier to talk to him. She didn't understand it, but enjoyed it all the same. She frowned a little recalling she barely knew anything about him as she had only just met him.

"So you ready to go?" Xander's question broke her out of her thoughts and she turned back to him. "I'm, where are we going? The Bronze?" she inquired, as she followed him out of the door.

"No way, that place is run down and needs to be rebuilt from the ground up and is no place for a first date," Xander replied, this time being completely serious. "I have reservations at the new restaurant for us," he told her, giving her a quick smile.

Tara almost stopped moving as he answered. She was surprised to learn he was taking her to a restaurant for dinner. That had not been something she had contemplated for a first date, the truth was she had never been taken anywhere fancy for any date she had before. She found herself wishing she was in a skirt or a dress, but Xander seemed to think she looked fine.

"I know it seems a little big for a first date, but I thought it would be different than any dates either of us has been on before," Xander said in way of explanation. "Something about you makes me want to pull out all the stops," he added truthfully as for this moment in time all thoughts of revenge were absent from his mind and was focused on impressing and gaining the trust of Tara.

Tara did blush at that and turned away from his intense gaze whilst a warm glow surrounded her due to what he had said. She took a deep breath and faced him again and gave him a small shy smile to indicate she appreciated his intentions. He led her to a car which was a black Chevy and opened the door for her, giving him another smile she got in and waited for him to get in the driver's side.

"Nice car," she told him as he started the engine.

"Thanks, I got it after my parents died," Xander responded truthfully. "It used to belong to my dad," he added, as the memories of his first waking and murder of his parents surfaced.

He still felt the bitter anger and pure hatred he felt for Buffy and Amy for causing the death of his mother who had not deserved such a fate. His father he couldn't give a rat's ass about as he had always been an abusive drunk. He felt bitter towards Giles as well for not destroying the spell as soon as it was shown to him, instead of leaving it right where Buffy could get her hands on it. It should have been obvious to the man that the blond haired Slayer would not be able to resist the damn temptation to make Angel human, he should have known better.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Tara's soft voice broke him from his anger filled memories and thoughts. "My father was an abusive drunk and so I don't care that he is gone as nasty as it may sound, but my mom she was special," Xander told her. "She stayed with Tony to ensure he did not go to far as she knew he would probably get custody of me if she tried to divorce him," he explained as he drove. "He had spent years spreading lies about her and so no one would believe her version of events and put down anything I said as been from pressure from her," he continued. "Fucking vampires got them, drunken idiot let one in even after I warned him about doing such a thing at night," this time he was lying, but the bitterness he felt and was heard in his tone by Tara was just as much aimed at himself for not being able to control himself enough to spare his mother.

Tara heard the bitterness which she guessed was aimed at his father for ignoring his warning. She also heard the pain and anger in his tone as he spoke. Clearly the death of his mother had hit him hard, she found herself placing a hand over his, trying to convey her sorrow at his loss. Xander gave her a small smile in return. "When did you learn about vampires?" she asked, having been wondering about this since his earlier elusion to them as she removed her hand from his.

"Three years ago, just about the time Summers came to town," Xander said giving her a half truth. "She and her group may have thought everyone else was blind, but they were dead wrong. She should have listened to Harris when he told her that," he added unable to stop himself from trying to put a dent in Tara's trust in the group. "You knew Xander Harris?" she inquired her mind locking on his words now as she had always wanted to learn more about the young man who used to help the group before his untimely demise.

"Considering I went to school with them all I should say so. He was an okay guy just a little to used to clowning around for most people," Xander responded as he recalled how he used to be before he was cursed. "When Summers came to town he began to change. He was loyal to them and tried to help where he could," he told her. "He suffered cruelly though. They did not appreciate his help at all. Summers berated him constantly and made fun of him at times," he explained. "She even used him once to make her boyfriend jealous. Half the Bronze watched as she slow danced him all the while looking at her lover, making it clear who the real subject of her actions was," he went on as he pulled the car into the parking lot of the restaurant. "She finished the night off by whispering something to him that seemed to hurt and then walking off, leaving him alone and looking stupid. I tried to tell him he should start showing some back bone, but he ignored me," he stated.

In truth he wished he had shown more back bone after that display, but like a fool he had allowed Buffy to continue to walk all over him. He was a complete idiot not to realize she did not see him as much of a friend as he saw her. He shook his head as he stared into the night, wondering what would have happened had he stood up to Buffy and the others instead of allowing them to control his actions, maybe just maybe he might still be a human being.

For Tara the information she had just heard was shocking as it showed a completely different side of Buffy she had not believed existed. Her first thought was to ignore what Xander has said as a bad view of things from the outside, but the more she thought over what he had said the more she realized the emotions behind the words seemed to real to be a lie. She wondered if the lover Buffy had been playing with Xander Harris for had been Angel. She did not like the idea that the blond had played with someone else's emotions just to get some attention from her boyfriend as that was just cruel.

"Anyway enough about the past, if you want to know more about them or Alex as I prefer to call him, considering we share the same name we can talk about it tomorrow," Xander said to her, breaking into her thoughts and making her refocus on him. "Tonight is about us and getting to know one another better and hoping we like one another enough to go on another date sometime soon," he added with a smile and a hopeful tone that made Tara smile in return.

"We'll see," Tara responded, as she watched him get out of the car and run around to her side to open the door for her. "You are a gentleman," she told him as she accepted his hand and allowed him to help her out. "My mom always told me to treat a girl right and ensure I never ended up like my father," Xander responded as he locked the car and with a hand on her lower back guided her to the doors of the restaurant.

Tara shivered a little as she felt his hand come to settle on her lower back and gently guide her to the doors, however she did not complain as it was a nice gesture and made her feel safe as she glanced around the darkened parking lot. As they entered the restaurant Tara took a quick look around and noted they were not under dressed, clearly this was not a high class place and catered to everyone.

"Table for two under Wilson," she heard Xander say to the host who looked at his booking list before nodding with a smile and leading them to a table near the end of the room. Xander quickly helped seat her, which she found amusing.

"Please let a waiter know when you are ready to order Sir, Madam," the Host told them with a pleasant smile. "I hope you both enjoy your time and meal here," he added before moving back to his post.

"Please order what you want Tara, believe me I am not hurting for cash," Xander said turning to her after taking a brief look around making Tara smile again before she looked at the menu.  
4\. Chapter 4  
Chapter 4

(The Bronze)

Buffy danced with Angel ignoring everyone else including Willow and Amy who were sat at one of the tables probably talking about magic. She knew Willow was obsessed with learning more and more spells way above what she was ready for according to Tara. Amy did not seem to share that view and Buffy felt that any skills Willow picked up would in the end help them during patrol. She grimaced as she realized that they should be out on a patrol right now, however she had wanted a night off. Giles had lost what control he had on her during high school now that they were in University and thus she made all the calls now.

Then again she had thought she should have been doing that since the beginning as she was the Slayer. It was her who risked her neck during patrols. Yes she had help here and there, but she was the one who engaged in hand to hand and destroyed the bad guys, so why shouldn't she be in charge. She still wished sometimes that she could quit being the Slayer now that Faith was back in her right mind and helping them, but she still felt like she had to help as the others all looked up to her to lead. Another factor in that was that she loved having them look to her before they acted, she liked being in charge. Finally the dance finished and she led Angel back to the table. She loved the fact that she could enjoy a real relationship with Angel these days.

"Did you enjoy yourself?" Willow asked, missing Oz now more than ever and cursing the female werewolf that had forced him to leave her and Sunnydale behind.

"We did thanks, we're going to head back to Angel's now," Buffy responded. "We'll see you tomorrow," she added as she started to leave with Angel close behind.

"But what about patrol?" Willow shot back, surprised Buffy was blowing it off. "We need a break Willow. We've been patrolling all week," Buffy answered. "Go home and relax, we'll pick it up tomorrow," she told her before finally noticing Tara was missing. "Where's Tara?" she inquired.

"She didn't answer her phone when I called and Willow and I knocked on her door before coming here, but there was no response," Amy spoke up as Willow still seemed surprised by Buffy's response.

Buffy frowned at this as it was unlike Tara to vanish without at least telling them she would be busy. She wondered if it had anything to do with her supposed friend. She didn't like the fact that Tara was been so elusive. She liked knowing where all her friends were and what they were doing. It might seem to some that she was a control freak, but she just felt better knowing, she would talk to the girl tomorrow.

"Oh well I am sure she has a good reason," Angel cut in, getting a little fed up with waiting to get home.

Ever since he had become human again he had indulged in every human emotion and action he could do, but making love to Buffy was his all time favorite. When he had to wait to get her alone as she still spent a lot of time with her friends he grew annoyed, he couldn't help it. At the beginning just after Buffy had used the curse they had spent two days doing nothing more than making love and talking about their new future. It had taken him a few weeks to get used to being human again, learning to eat properly and drink enough to stay healthy. But he had enjoyed every minute of it and he would not give it up for anything. Not once did he regret that Xander had paid the price for his new lease on life. The boy had been nothing but a clown who constantly messed up. He was sure he had been staked long ago, it made him chuckle to think about.

"Yeah, you are probably right Angel," Buffy agreed. "Let's go," she added, giving her friends a small smile before leaving.

"Night," was all Angel said as he followed his girlfriend.

Willow watched them leave and shook her head, truly wishing Oz was still with her. She needed a new lover because she was growing more and more lonely as time passed. Amy quickly decided to call it a night as well and headed home with Willow quickly following her. As she walked she wondered what Tara was really up to and why she had not told them about it.

+++

(Sunnydale Restaurant)

Tara finished her meal and then began to drink the left over champagne Xander had ordered for them, it was not something she'd had before but she found herself liking the taste. They had a pleasant discussion on things from magic, vampires and even touched briefly on their history's to each other. The night had gone well and she found herself liking Xander more and more. He seemed like a nice guy and she hoped he found her interesting enough to ask her out again.

"I think I better get you back to your dorm," Xander finally said after finishing his drink. "It's getting late and I don't want to run into any vampires," he added quietly as he asked the waiter for the check.

"I almost don't want this night to end, but this is only our first date and I still don't know you too well," Tara admitted, as she stood up and prepared to leave.

Xander smiled and was pleased he had been able to allay any fears she might have had about him. She seemed to trust him enough that she had relaxed completely as the date had proceeded. It made him believe he could win her trust completely and make her his queen. She may distract him a lot when he was in her presence, but he had not forgotten why he was back in Sunnydale. After paying the bill and leaving a tip for the waiter he began to guide Tara back to his car, leaving the tip seemed a good way to impress Tara and continued to make him look like a good guy.

As they drove back Xander continued to think of what his first real move against Buffy and the group should be. He guessed he should do something about Faith who had been able to sense him watching them, even with his magical amulet. He pulled up outside the dorms and quickly got out and made his way to her side and helped her out. He made sure she made it inside before moving away after promising to call her. Getting back into his car he decided it was time to start putting other plans into motion. He needed allies and his most important one was just back in Sunnydale as well and he knew he would have to be convincing to get him to help.

+++

(Abandoned Mansion)

Xander walked slowly over the beams as he looked down to see Spike and Drusilla wandering around with the few lackeys they had with them. Clearly they were down on their luck right now. He knelt and watched as Spike spoke about how he was back for a special kind of gem that would aid him in fighting Buffy by allowing him to walk in the daylight. This intrigued Xander, but he put it aside for now. He dropped down to the ground surprised the vampires, especially Spike. Dru however just stared at him for a few seconds before she winked at him, clearly she had known before hand he was coming.

"Hello Kitten," she said simply as Spike sensed he was not a human and began to relax. "I sense you have the nasty curse daddy used to have," she stated with a frown.

"Yeah figured you would," Xander responded. "I got cursed thanks to Summers and Madison finding an old transference spell. They used it to make Angel human and me a souled vamp," he explained. "I'm back for revenge and I intend to get it. I want to take over this town and I want your help," he told them.

"And what about Summers and her crew?" Spike inquired still trying to get his head around the facts he had just been told.

The idea that Angel was now human surprised him and yet gave him a thrill of pleasure as he was sure he would be simpler to kill. He almost turned and went out to find him, but he stayed where he was after caught Dru's look.

"Summers, Madison and Angel are dead, no matter what," Xander responded. "The others not so much, they can be useful to us if I can turn them," he added. "This will not be a frontal assault. I will slowly work my way through the group turning them as I go. Once that is done we can kill the remaining three," he stated his plans.

"Do you think you can actually do all that without being found out?" Spike asked, doubting his fellow vampire's skills as he was a newbie compared to him.

"I can, don't ever doubt me Spike," Xander shot back heatedly. "I've already started. I want you guys to build up a force to take over the town once we are done," he explained. "I want you also to keep them distracted and focused on a new threat, don't let them know you are behind it. We need the element of surprise to do this," he stated.

"Sounds plausible," Spike agreed after discussing it with Dru for a few minutes "Ok mate, we'll work with you, but I want the pleasure of killing Angel," he requested putting his hand out to shake on the deal.

"Done," Xander replied and shook Spike's out stretched hand, pleased that the meeting had gone well. "Let me know when you are ready to start playing games with them," he ordered. "And remember, stay low. Our best advantage is that they don't know we're back and that's the way I want to keep it," he finished before he turned to leave.

"I understand mate, we'll be in touch," Spike told him. He watched him leave before he turned and prepared to put the plan into motion.

With someone's help who knew the group inside and out and was not insane as Angelus was he was sure this time they could win. He smirked as he imagined finally having the satisfaction of killing Angel and with him the reminder of Angelus that always seemed to have a grip on his Dru.  
5\. Chapter 5  
Chapter 5

(Sunnydale Dorms, Night Time)

Tara enjoyed the shower she was currently finishing off, the night had gone better than she had ever imagined. She seemed to connect easily with Xander in ways she had never had before with any other potential date. She wondered what it was about him. He had admitted she had a similar effect on him than he had on her. That brought a smile to her face as she turned the water off and began to dry herself. She was sure Buffy and Willow and even Amy who hated her would try and find out where she had been, but she had no intention of telling them. This was her little secret, and she intended to keep it.

After finishing drying herself off and putting her dressing gown on, she took her dirty clothes and towel to the washing basket, ready to be taken to be cleaned. Dropping into the bed she quickly curled up and began to fall asleep. Her mind was full of possible outcomes to the date tonight. It also showed her what might lay in store between her and Xander later on down the road if they continued to see each other.

+++

(Warehouse)

Xander lay on his own bed pleased by how easily he and Tara had got on during the date. They seemed to have real chemistry and he intended to see her again tomorrow. He was also thankful his first meeting with Spike and Dru had gone so well, getting the platinum haired vampire to agree to his plan had been essential to his plans. As long as Buffy did not know of his presence he could build up his forces and prepare for the coming fight with ease, well he did not need to build anything now as he had Spike and Dru for that.

He had noted Dru seemed less flighty than she had been when he had last seen her. He wondered how Angel being human now and his vampirism transferred to him had affected her. Was he now basically her sire or was she now free of any such bond? It was a tricky question, but he felt sure he had no link to Dru as she had called him Kitten instead of sire. Turning he decided he would see Tara in the morning before making plans to go after Faith. She was the most dangerous member of the group at this moment, at least to him. Closing his eyes he began to fall asleep and as he did so his mind shifted once more to Tara.

+++

(Angel's apartment, next morning)

Angel awoke feeling sated and pleased as he glanced at Buffy who was curled up against him. He couldn't help but feel proud of how much control he had over the girl. Even as a vampire he had easily led her around and even as Angelus he had got her to do things his way and now as a human he still commanded her full attention. She had stolen the humanity out of a friend and ally to make him human once more, her mind was so full of love for him that she did not once question her choice. He thought back to all the women he had bedded in his long life and wondered if he had ever controlled one of them as easily as he did Buffy, having always had an appreciation for the female form he'd had many lovers.

Of course that was what had led to him been vamped after meeting Darla in a pub. She had seduced him easily as he had been drunk and easily swayed by her charms. After a rather impressive bout of sex she had sunk her fangs into his neck and began to drain him. He had not even noticed the change and just clung onto her. When he had felt something wet against his mouth he had accepted it eagerly thinking it was more beer, as the darkness came for him he had one last glance of her smirking at him. The next time he had awakened he had been a vampire. He had drained a young bar girl who had refused his advances in the past dry, not caring about the pain she felt and her feeble cries of mercy. He and Darla had sex again right there on the bed while her corpse lay nearby. It had been the beginning of the terror they would unleash on the world.

Getting up and heading for a bath preferring it to a shower, he wondered what Buffy would say if she knew he had cheated on her multiple times since becoming human. Would she care? He wondered, but somehow he doubted it. He had never been able to refuse a women's advance, but he always came back to Buffy as he did actually love her as much as he was able to love. He soon felt Buffy join him in the bad and while usually they would end up having sex again, he was not in the mood and so quickly left the bad to dry and prepare for the day, missing Buffy's disappointed look.

"I'll see you for dinner. I have some things to do before work," he told her before leaving. Buffy went to respond, but he was gone before she could say anything.

One thing he did not enjoy about being human again was the fact he had to work to earn money. Well not exactly true, but to keep Buffy happy as well as keep Willow and the others of his back he had gotten a job at one of the local shops. It paid well enough, but it was his more illegal dealings that kept him well off. He kept these things secret from Buffy as he knew she would not approve. Just because he was human again did not change who he was and always had been, it was the same with his cheating nature and why he could not stop himself.

It was just who he was inside, as a souled vampire he had of course played the loyal kind being to keep himself on Buffy's good side, but in reality he had never changed. He was willing to make some changes for Buffy and her friends, but not too much. Headed for his contacts apartment he hoped to collect some cash for later on tonight. He had learned many useful things as a vampire on how to gain a lot of money. So he easily set up these dealings to aid him.

Back in the apartment Buffy stared at the door for a few minutes before continuing to prepare for classes. Sometimes Angel could be cold and distant as if he had other things on his mind. She didn't always mind this, but sometimes she wished he would be as loving and attentive as he usually was to her, sighing she headed out to face the day, hoping when she met up with Angel for dinner he was in a better mood.

+++

(Sunnydale)

Tara couldn't keep the smile of her face as she walked towards the coffee shop. She could feel someone behind her and she just felt it was Xander doing almost the exact thing he had done the day before. From anyone else she would have been concerned he was a stalker, but as before something about Xander made her trust him. Coming to a dead stop she turned to find Xander behind her with his hands in his trench coat pockets and a smile on his face. She raised her eyebrow in question making him smile just a little more.

"Good morning," he said. "Sorry, couldn't resist following you when I saw you," he casually defended himself. "Oh really?" she teased. "Have you nothing better to do?" she inquired moving a little closer.

"Not really, no," Xander responded, enjoying the banter. "I hope you enjoyed last night," he said, switching topics as he fell in beside her and began to walk to the coffee shop.

"I had a great time Xander," Tara said, unable to stop herself smiling, as she recalled the previous night events. "I hope we can go out again, if you want to?" she asked slightly nervous.

"I would like that Tara," Xander instantly agreed feeling his seduction of the witch was going even faster than he had believed it would. "How about tomorrow? I would say tonight, but I have to meet up with an old friend," he told her as he recalled he had to do something about Faith tonight.

"That's fine," Tara agreed as they entered the shop and moved to the counter to order her regular coffee and sandwich, while Xander just ordered a coffee. "Glad to hear it and now I have something to look forward to," Xander said looking her dead in the eye and making her blush.

They missed the amused look on the shop keeper's face as he brought out their orders and noticed the exchange. He had seen many young couples do this and it always brightened his day. As they paid and began to move away he couldn't help frown. Something about the young man pulled at his memory, but for the life of him he could not recall where he had seen him before.

Xander continued to walk beside Tara continuing their conversation from the night before, however he also kept a close eye out for Buffy or any of the others, it would not do for them to see and recognize him, especially next to Tara. That would spoil everything and also damage the trust he had managed to gain with her. He began to forget his plans for the night and his thirst for revenge again. Tara had a way of making him forget all of it and a part of him was worried about it. Finally reaching the beginnings of the University grounds Xander came to a stop. He dared not go any further just in case Buffy and the others were waiting for Tara.

"I'm sad to say this is where I must leave you," he apologized. "I have to get to work and thus I must part company," he continued with a smile. "I will phone you later on if I can, to set up our date for tomorrow he told her. "I understand, have a good day Xander," Tara responded, fighting off the urge to give him a small kiss. However she knew things were too early for that and so she just gave him a small smile before moving off. She felt his gaze all the way down the path before she turned onto the main path leading to the University itself.

+++

(The Initiative Underground Base)

Riley Finn, Graham Miller and Forrest Gates stood at attention along with the rest of the unit as Maggie Walsh, their superior, finished giving them their last few orders. They had only been in Sunnydale for a couple of weeks setting the base up to prepare for their mission. They were the chosen few to help defend humanity from this new threat, to learn that vampires and demons existed was a shocking and rather horrifying event but each of them had sworn to do all they could to stop them and tonight would be their first mission to capture a vampire and a demon. They were armed with tazer like laser guns that should knock them out, as well as the standard array of weapons as backup in case a capture went wrong. He couldn't wait to start, but for now they had to integrate themselves into the university crowd. Walsh was taking up a teaching post, while the rest of them were going as students. Finn himself had been chosen to be Walsh's TA and he felt great pride in that. Finally they were dismissed and they broke up and headed up the stairs or the lift to Lowell House, which the base was built under.

"I so cannot wait for tonight," Forrest said, as they moved up the stairs. "We are so going to kick ass," he added confidently.

"Hey this isn't a game Forrest," Graham growled a little annoyed by his friend's ego and over confidence. "We are going up against things stronger, faster and far more deadly than we are and us coming out on top is not guaranteed," he warned. "Plus the demons are worse as they all have different powers and abilities, which we do not know about. We have to be careful how we approach them," he stated.

"But," Forrest went to argue before he was cut off by Maggie Walsh's voice coming from behind them. "Mr Miller is correct, we must be careful how we proceed during capture missions until we know what the majority of the demons can do," she told them. "I want no show boating or grand standing out there Mr. Gates. Is that clear?" she ordered with a glare. "Do not let your ego and over confidence get you or anyone else killed," she added.

"Yes Mam," Forrest responded, angered to be chastised in front of his friends and giving Graham's back a glare.

"Riley, I expect you to keep your men under tight control during missions. Do you understand?" Walsh asked, turning to Riley who was also the unit leader. "I understand Professor. I'll make sure no one does anything stupid," Riley assured her with a confident nod.

He got on well with his fellow soldiers as most of them were friends from the academy, where most of them had been recruited from and so he was confident they would listen and obey his orders in the field. Graham had a good view of things, but he was worried by how Forrest seemed to treat this operation and so vowed to keep a close eye on him.

+++

(Sunnydale University)

Tara was beginning to grow tired of Buffy's insistent questioning of her whereabouts the night before. It was like the blond felt like she deserved to have all her questions answered. Willow and Amy were not much better and also pestered her for the information. Why could they not leave her alone so she could concentrate on her studies? By the time she reached her history class, which thankfully did not take with Buffy or the others, she felt like smacking them, it just never ended.

Sinking into her seat she pulled her books out and prepared for the day's lesson, even as she handed over the homework assignment they had been given to the TA. She found the relative peace relaxing as she did not have to listen to Buffy, Willow or Amy moan and ask questions of her, which were none of their business. As the teacher began the lesson she pushed the thoughts away, she found herself wondering what her date with Xander tomorrow would be like.

In another part of the University Buffy sat next to Willow and Amy in Psychology, a new class that had just opened and all three of them had been interested in it. According to the notice the Professor who was teaching it was very good, listening to her now Buffy had to agree she knew her stuff. However she could not stop herself from wondering what Tara was hiding from them, she knew there was something she was not telling them. Willow had similar thoughts, but dismissed them to focus on the lesson. Amy had her eyes locked on the young man standing by Walsh's side and was acting as her TA. She decided the next time she saw him on campus she would introduce herself. Their eyes briefly met as he looked around and she gave him a smile before going back to listing to Walsh.

+++

(Sunnydale, Midday)

Joyce Summers looked up as Rupert Giles entered her art gallery, the man looked rather worn down, not that she could blame him. He had told her how Buffy had begun to treat him; they had met quite a few times to discuss things. She knew as things stood he would either leave town for good or attempt to find something to levitate his boredom, as he sat down she put on the kettle she kept in her office.

"Joyce, I need your advice," Giles began and was grateful he had forged a good friendship with Buffy's mother over the last year or two. "Of course Rupert, what can I help you with?" Joyce responded, as she began to pour them both a cup of tea.

"I'm thinking about buying the local magic shop and I wanted to know how to go about it, seen as you own and operate your own business I thought you might know the best way of doing it," Giles told her. "I need something to keep me busy between the times Buffy actually needs me these days," he said and Joyce could hear some bitterness in his tone which she could understand.

Buffy's actions of late towards the man, who had helped and guided her through her duty as the Slayer, made Joyce feel let down. She had raised Buffy to appreciate people who helped her, but somehow it had never seemed to take with her. Like with Xander, Buffy had little time to say thank you to Giles or anyone else who aided her. All her attention was focused on Angel, who now that he was human was even more in control of her daughter than he had been as a souled vampire. Even more annoying to her was the fact that Buffy spent a lot of her time at Angel's. She barely saw her daughter much at night anymore and it frustrated and angered her to no end. Shaking off these thoughts she settled down to discuss how Giles should go about buying the magic shop. She knew a lot that could aid Giles and was willing to help as best she could.

+++

(Sunnydale Dorms)

Tara collapsed onto her bed feeling slightly drained from the day. All she wanted to do was have something to eat and then go to sleep. Dinner had not been a good experience as she had been dragged into town to have it with the group as well as Angel and again Buffy had tried to question her and this time she had not been able to stop herself from yelling at Buffy to leave her alone. The group had been stunned as she was usually a laid back person, but she had not been able to keep her anger in check this time. The rest of dinner had been a silent affair except for a bit of small talk between Buffy and Angel.

Now that she was safely back in her room she could truly relax and just calm down from the day's arguments. ‘Why couldn't they just mind their own business?' She wondered. Her roommate was obviously at her boyfriend's and so she had the dorm to herself. Something she was grateful for. As the sun began to go down she wondered what Xander was doing and was tempted to call him, but she recalled that he was supposed to be meeting an old friend and so she held back not wanting to disturb her. Getting up she headed to the kitchen and began to make her some tea and she put the T.V on as well. Hopefully once she'd eaten and digested her meal she would feel a lot more relaxed and then could do some homework and then finally go to bed. It would be an easier day tomorrow as she had a few free periods where she could finish her homework and avoid Buffy and the others if she had to, by going to the University Library. It was one of the few places she could go to where she was sure she would not run into them. She guessed having spent most of their time in the school library they had grown tired of that kind of atmosphere.

+++

(Angel's Apartment)

Buffy ate her meal still wondering about what Tara was hiding, some would call her obsessive and paranoid, but she believed it was just how she kept herself safe. Tara should just tell her what was going on. Angel listened as Buffy talked about her day, barely paying much attention on her complaints about Tara. As she discussed the new professor and Amy's interest in her assistant he paused and glanced at her, wondering if Buffy might have any interest in that Riley guy herself, but he saw nothing but disinterest from the blond, not that he had truly expected anything else.

"Do we have any plans tonight?" Buffy inquired. "No, I have to go a meeting about a possible new job," Angel lied, having all the intention in the world of going to LA and finding some other women to bed. At the moment he was more in the mood for something other than Buffy, which is why he had picked up some cash from his contacts.

"Oh," Buffy mumbled and decided she would gather Willow and Amy and go on patrol to keep her occupied. It never even entered her mind that she was been betrayed by Angel. She had dismissed Giles talk of his earlier days as a womanizer as nothing but hearsay. "Well I hope you get it," she said.

"Thanks, if I do it'll mean a bit more money for us," Angel replied continuing his lie. "Just don't get your hopes up too much, the guy I'm seeing has a reputation for being picky," he told her, before finishing her meal and turning to head out. "Don't wait up for me, I might end up staying at the hotel where we are meeting to avoid running into any vamps," he warned her before leaving.

Buffy watched him go, frowning a little before deciding if he was not coming back she would head to her mothers to spend the night there after the patrol was done. After doing the wash up she turned and picked up the phone to call Willow and Amy. She decided to not call Tara. Until she knew what the witch was hiding she believed it was best to not rely on her to much.

+++

(Warehouse, night time)

Xander exited his safe house and headed out to find Faith. This was an important step in his plans. If it did not go as well as he hoped he would be left with two options, turn her or kill her. Either way he didn't want to end up in a fight with Faith, she was not really his enemy. Like Tara and Joyce she had no real connection to what had happened to him and so was not a part of his revenge. That didn't mean he wouldn't defend himself if she insisted on trying to kill him.

As he neared her apartment he paused as she exited it to begin her patrol, she paused near the door way as she glanced around. He pushed himself back into the shadows until she closed and locked the door and headed off towards one of the graveyards. He followed at what he hoped was a safe distance. He knew even with his amulet she could still sense him somewhat, he watched her for the next half hour and saw her dispatch seven vampires with ease, including a trio of vamps who tried to jump her so clearly she had improved. He then noticed five more vampires approach her and knew this would give her trouble and so he rushed in to help. All Faith saw was a shadow charge into the group and thought it was backup and quickly attacked them herself.

Xander ducked the swings from the vampire he was fighting, figuring it was either a newbie or at the very least a very inexperienced fighter. Pulling a stake he quickly imbedded it into the vamps heart and watched it dust as Faith staked another. The third attacked him and actually managed to stagger him somewhat, growling he struck back with a palm strike before he followed it up with a leg sweep and a quick stamp into it's privates before he staked it. Faith easily blocked the blows from the fourth before ducking the blow from the fifth as it came up behind her. Her senses quickly warned her of the attack. And she lashed out with a back kick. She knocked it into the stake of her shadowed helper and it quickly dusted. A blow to her face sent her to ground and she cursed taking her eyes off the forth vampire. Before it could take advantage of her fall, her helper stepped in with a palm strike to its chest which clearly hurt before he executed an arm bar take down and then staked it.

Her eyes opened wide as the head of her helper came up into the light. It showed the face of someone she had never expected to see again. He had not changed much, but then being a vampire would do that, the question on her mind was why he had helped her. She was paralyzed by that question and the surprise of seeing him again. So she remained where she was, even as the Slayer spirit inside her cried out for her to get up and fight.

"Hello Faith, long time no see," Xander said as he gazed into the eyes of his former friend with a slight smile on his face.  
6\. Chapter 6  
Chapter 6

(Sunnydale Dorms)

Willow and Amy sat with Buffy in their dorm, listening as the blond haired Slayer complained about the fact that Angel would not be home that night. They were a little uneasy about the way Buffy described his coldness, but both knew better than to voice any suggestions that Angel was not loyal to Buffy. They had tried that at the beginning of the year and Buffy had flipped, calling them all sorts of names. She had then stopped speaking to them for a whole week. It was only once they had apologized that they got back to being friends. Buffy, as usual in Willow's view, was blind to any fault Angel might have. She had not changed one bit from the naive girl who fell in love with a vampire.

"Anyway, enough about my woes. You guys ready for patrol?" Buffy finally asked. "Yes, I'm," Willow instantly responded Amy taught me a new spell I want to try," she explained at Buffy's curious gaze. "Cool," Buffy said, after a quick look at Amy who just smirked at her.

Buffy quickly got up and headed for the door followed by the other two. She ignored any disquiet she felt at Willow learning anything from Amy. After everything they had done to Xander, she knew she did not have any right to complain or interfere. She had demanded to do the transfer spell that had made Xander a vampire and Angel a human and Amy had agreed and from that point on they were tied together. Then there was the fact she had seen Amy wipe Giles's memory of any knowledge of the spell and also change it so he did not question them too often and so she did not bother to say anything about it.

"Think we'll encounter anything major?" Amy asked, breaking the brief silence that had dropped between them. "It's always a possibility Amy," Buffy shot back, hoping they did encounter something that she could work her frustration out on.

+R+

(Motorway)

Angel smirked as he headed for L.A. He could hardly wait to get to some bar and pick up some lady he could charm into bed. He might also visit the local demon bar and get some information on any possible threats. If there was one thing he had learned from his time as a cursed vampire it was to always keep an ear open for news. He guessed Buffy would end up staying at her mother's tonight, as she did not like it when he was not home. He smirked at how easy he had tamed the Slayer. She would do whatever he wanted and had he still been a vampire, he would consider it the greatest success of his long life.

+R+

(Sunnydale, Kristen Graveyard) 

Faith continued to stare at the vampire who had once been Alexander Harris. She was still confused as to why it had not attacked and tried to kill her yet. She was even more confused by its attitude. It sounded just like Xander had as a human and slowly she pushed herself to her feet and picked up her fallen stake. She noted Xander did nothing to stop her, he just watched her.

"You ok Faith?" the concern in his voice as he spoke made her even more confused and she wondered if she had stepped into an alternate reality as this vampire was not acting normal.

"What the hell do you care vampire?" she finally forced herself to shoot back, noting the slight frown her response caused.

"Ok Faith, I know from your point of view and what Buffy probably told you it doesn't look good," Xander started to explain. "You think I'm just a normal vamp and that I got turned by being stupid on patrol, right?" he asked.

"That's what B said," Faith replied, wondering why she was not trying to stake him and instead was actually talking to him. Something inside her was holding her urge to attack back, for once something other than the Slayer spirit was guiding her. She did not know what, but she guessed it was her gut instinct.

"She lied, Faith. To you and the others," Xander told her grimly. "I mean did it never caught your attention I became a vampire on the very same day old dead boy became human?" he inquired darkly.

Faith listened to what Xander was saying, but her mind quickly went into overdrive as he finished asking his question. Granted she had still been around at that point, even if it was around the time she had split from the group during her dark turn. Yet it had never really hit her that indeed Xander had been turned, according to Buffy on the same day she had stated a miracle had happened and Angel had become human. She frowned wondering why she had not picked up on this fact and then her mind asked the question if Buffy had lied, then what had happened to make Xander a vampire.

"Now wait a minute," Faith finally said. "Why the hell should I believe anything you have to say. You're a damn vampire?" she demanded.

"Because for one, I just saved your life. No matter how strong you're Faith five to one are not good odds, Slayer or not," Xander shot back. "I have not attacked you which should tell you I'm not an ordinary vampire. I didn't just get turned I got dead boy's soul curse along with the vampirism," he told her.

"What do you mean?" Faith asked. "You saving my ass could be just part of some convoluted plan to get me to drop my guard before killing me," she shot back a second later.

"Hardly original Faith and if I wanted you dead, I would just kill you from afar," Xander replied with a sigh at her wariness not that he could blame her. "It would save me a lot of time and effort and ensure you did not escape. I swear to you that I'm no threat to you," he went on looking her dead in the eye. "Now to answer your question I was not turned by normal means, Faith. I wasn't even outside when it happened. I was at home," he said after a few seconds. "While relaxing at home I was hit by the most intense pain i ever imagined. I could feel my humanity been ripped out of my body and my soul screamed in agony and the last thing I remembered as a human was wishing to die," he explained as he began to pace a little. "I woke up a vampire, but I was so disorientated and overcome with so many new feelings and sensory input I ended up draining my father and mother dry," he growled this last part. "While I could not care less about my father considering what he did to me and mom. I did care that my mother had to die like that at my hands. It goes to show how little Buffy cared when she had Amy cast the spell that turned me into a vampire and Angel into a human," he finished.

Faith's mind grounded to a halt as he finished and the first thing to filter in was revulsion. She tried to stop herself believing what she was been told, but she knew one thing about Buffy that would never change and that was she would do anything, sacrifice anything for Angel no matter what and the look of Xander's eyes told her a very simple truth, he was not lying.

"I am a souled vampire like dead boy was, thanks to Buffy and her selfishness and need for revenge against me," Xander stated. "Revenge for what?" Faith found herself asking.

"Lying about the soul spell Willow was doing during the Angelus crisis," Xander answered. "I knew if I told her about it, Buffy would not fight Angelus with the will and the need to win. She would have held back and given Willow all the time Angelus needed to end the world," he explained at her raised eyebrow. "I know you never got told the whole deal, but in the end Buffy held back dusting Angelus until she had no choice left," he growled again as he spoke. "Jenny Calendar and Kendra were just two people who could have been saved had she done her damn job instead of letting him live. With the world in the balance there was no way in hell I was going to risk giving Buffy any reason to hold back," he told her.

"But the curse worked didn't it?" Faith said, recalling the way Buffy and Willow had told it. 

"Only after Willow was possessed by some kind of spirit and Angelus had opened the portal to hell. The world would have ended had she not stabbed him with the sword and thrust him into the portal," Xander shot back with a shake of his head. "My lie ensured she was up to the job, and this was my payment because she refused to see it as anything but an act of jealousy," he continued. "She made me believe she had let it go and that she understood why I did what I did," he let out a bitter laugh at the end. "I should have known better. She would never let it go and when she found the transference spell she had the perfect thing to enact her revenge," he told her with a sharp kick into a nearby head stone, which shattered the top half of it.

"How do you know what happened?" Faith asked, doing her best to keep herself alert. "I mean if it happened the way you say then how did you find out what had happened to you?" she added.

"After I regained some semblance of control once I had drained my parents I went to the library hoping to get some help. Instead I bumped into Buffy and Amy who told me exactly what had happened and why," Xander answered as he recalled that meeting and Faith could see the hatred he now held for the two in question. "She then gave me an ultimatum, run or get staked," he told her before letting out a bitter chuckle. "She showed what a hypocritical selfish bitch she truly was with that statement. I left, but I vowed to come back and get my revenge," he said, his eyes darkening and his tone becoming grimmer. "I'm not a threat to you Faith, but I'm a threat to Buffy, Amy and Angel. Giles is also partly responsible as he should never have left such a powerful spell where Buffy could get her hands on it," he explained. "Amy wiped his mind of even finding the spell, so he doesn't even recall what a colossal mistake he made because it should have been clear Buffy could not resist using the spell," he stated. "Willow was just too naive to believe Buffy's lies that I was turned on patrol because I was stupid. I don't know what I'll do about them, but for now my focus is on the main there responsible for me becoming a vampire and draining my mother," he finished.

Faith could only stare at him, her mind was split on what to say or do.

+R+

(Sunnydale Dorms)

Tara lay on her bed trying to fall asleep, but for some reason she could not do so. She let out a small sigh before getting up and putting the TV back on for a short while. She hated nights like this when she could not fall asleep easily, even with how tired and drained she still felt from the long day, sleep would just not come. Sitting down she watched the movie she had found and hoped that soon she would be able to fall asleep. Her mind didn't take long to focus on Xander and what their date tomorrow would bring.

+R+

(Sunnydale, Williams Graveyard)

Buffy walked through the graveyard slightly annoyed they had not found anything she could really work her frustrations out on, so far they had only encountered a few measly vampires and they were easily dusted. As they moved deeper into the graveyard they all paused as the sounds of a huge fight up ahead reached them.

"What do you think it is?" Willow inquired, surprised to hear any kind of fight which did not include them.

"You think it is Faith and Tara?" Amy suggested. "They could be in trouble," she added, but anyone could tell she did not really care one way or the other by her tone.

"No, Faith said she was doing a solo patrol through Kristen," Buffy responded. "And I doubt Tara would come out alone, it has to be something else," she went on, still trying to decide whether to check it out or not, but in the end she knew Giles would not be pleased if she did not at least have a look, just in case it was something they needed to know about. "Let's take a quick look just in case," she finally told the others and moved slowly towards the fighting.

They moved slowly and as carefully as they could towards the sounds of fighting. They didn't want to draw any attention to themselves if they could help it. Finally they saw exactly what was causing the noise. They were each surprised by what they were seeing. Three very large demons were fighting what looked like human commandos. They were armed with what looked like tazers. Willow was the one who identified what the weapon was after seeing the blast that came out of it. This made no sense to them as it seemed to do little damage to the demons.

"What the hell is going on?" Buffy could not help but ask. "I have no clue, but one thing is for sure if they don't use proper weapons soon they are dead meat," Willow concluded.

"Do we help them?" Amy inquired, curious what the commandos were doing in Sunnydale.

"We can't afford to expose ourselves until we know they are not a threat to us," Buffy shot back with a short glance at Amy. "For all we know we could aide them only for them to shoot us in the back because we have powers. We don't know who or what they are or why they are here so I say we stay hidden and just observe them," she told them.

"But they'll die without our help," Willow protested, not liking Buffy's casual dismissal of the commandos plight. A thought backed up by the memory of Xander who she knew would never have obeyed such an order and rushed to help.

"There is a chance they might win Willow, but I'm not going to put us in danger without more information on these commandos," Buffy told her with a slight glare, which silenced the red head from saying anything else. The three then turned to watch the fight.

+R+

Riley groaned as he tried to push himself back to his feet. The fight had gone downhill as soon as the demon's two friends had shown up. They had been hunting for no less than an hour when they had come across the rather tall imposing demon. They had then followed the orders Wash had given them and that was to attack and capture the first demon they come across. At first their numbers seemed to give them the edge even if their blasters seemed to do little to the demon in return, then the other two had shown up and the fight had gone downhill from there.

"Push your blasters to full power," he finally ordered after shaking off the cobwebs from the blow he had taken. "Maybe the higher setting will bring these things down," he added, his tone telling them all he really hoped this would be the case.

"Forest back off," Graham yelled at his friend who had moved closer to the original demon they had attacked, although it was hard to tell them apart. "You are going to get yourself killed," he growled in annoyance.

Forest headed the warning and backed off as the demon took a swipe at his head. It only missed because Forest already had started to back off.

The demons let out roars of anger and charged the commandos again. One of them managed to capture one of the commandos as he tried to fully charge his blaster. With a swift crack of his hand it snapped the neck of the unlucky commando and then with a powerful jerk it ripped the head and spine of the commando right out of his body. Blood sprayed everywhere including two of his fellow commandos as they had tried to save him.

"Fire at will," Riley ordered cursing as he realized he had now lost three of his men. One had fallen after being gutted in a rather messy display of demon strength and the second had died after having his throat slit from a swipe of the demon's claws and now he had lost a third. Clearly Graham's warning had been spot on, they had no idea what they were truly up against with the demons in this town and now they were paying the price for it.

The remaining commandos all opened fire with their blasters, hitting the three demons as often as they could. Thankfully the discharge this time seemed to have an effect. The first demon fell a few seconds later, the second tried to charge the commandos, but ended up collapsing before reaching them. The third however made it to a commando who was on the other side of the fight and with a roar it rammed its claws into the commando's heart and let out a triumphant roar before it escaped. It did not look back as the commando collapsed to the ground with blood spurting out of his mouth as he died, none of the surviving commandos tried to pursue.

"Okay, order the capture trucks to come and pick us up," Riley ordered. "Place our dead in body bags for retrieval," he continued. "Keep a close eye out just in case that demon that escaped comes back with more friends," he added as he took a deep breath and wondered how Wash would react when he put in his report of the nights mission.

Back in cover Buffy backed away wondering what exactly was going on. Moving off with Amy and Willow behind her she decided to pay a visit to Giles before she headed for her mothers. Maybe he would have an idea on what the commandos were doing in town. Maybe they had some connection to the watchers although that was a long shot in her view.

"It was annoying we could not see their faces due to the balaclava's they were wearing," Amy commented with a frown. "It might have given us some ideas on who they were," she added when the other two looked at her.

"I agree, clearly they have some kind of security protocol about that kind of thing," Buffy said, nodding in agreement. "It screams military to me," she stated. "I've seen enough films and TV shows to recognize that kind of thing," she went on as Willow looked a little surprised at her statement.

Willow shook her head knowing she should have known Buffy only knew it from TV. She was not one to actually research much if she believed she did not need to know it. Xander probably would have recognized it from his soldier memories and Giles would have known it from somewhere as well.

+R+

(Sunnydale, Kristen Graveyard)

Faith paced like a caged animal unable to decide what to believe or what action to take. Xander remained where he was and was actually relieved Faith had listened to him instead of outright attacking him. He didn't want to kill her. Faith had nothing to do with him becoming a vampire or his mother's death. She had once been a friend and he hoped she might become one again and he also would not turn her without her consent. Having his soul intact kept the more murderous ideas of the demon at bay, still if this did turn sour then to protect himself and his plan then he might have to consider such an option.

"I can't let you kill them. I'm a Slayer Xander," Faith finally spoke up. "I'm here to protect people. Buffy and the others are my allies and I've already had one close call with the darkness, remember?" she pointed out.

"I remember, but as for Buffy and the others being your allies then you have deluded yourself to think they actually believe you have redeemed yourself," Xander responded. "Buffy will always think of you as a second stringer, no matter that the truth is you are the active Slayer, while she is nothing but a remnant. Giles will of course always support her first over you, no matter what," he continued. "Amy will listen and support Buffy in all things as will Angel," he pressed. "Willow probably will not have forgiven you for your previous fall and the threat you made to kill her. The only one on your side is Tara," he finished before he cursed as he realized he had mentioned Tara, who he should not even know.

"How do you know about Tara?" Faith asked, easily detecting the mistake. "I've been here for a week or two and was watching the group. Once I noticed the new face I looked into who she was," Xander did his best to cover up his mistake. "Easily done if you know the right person or demon, the group is closely monitored by the local demon community," he told her. "They like to know about the comings and goings of the Slayer and her allies, but that is beside the point," he said. "Tara has nothing to do with any of this, she is even more innocent than you and I swear to you I'm in no way a threat to her either," he swore. "I'm only here for Buffy, Amy and Angel," he stated.

"And what of Giles and Willow, sounded to me like you hold some anger towards them as well?" Faith asked frowning, wondering at Xander's rather passionate vow about Tara. There was something she was missing; she just didn't know what it was.

"Giles should have destroyed the spell or at least hidden it as soon as he found it. Instead he left it right where Buffy and Amy could use it," Xander responded. "However as Amy took the knowledge from him of even finding the spell he technically holds no responsibility of what happened, but I will ensure he remembers before I'm done," he said with a slight growl. "Willow I'm undecided on. She had nothing to do with the spell, but as I said she believed instantly what she was told even after the lifelong friendship between us. She should have at least been slightly unsure," he continued. "I'm angry she did not question Buffy. The fact my turning and Angel becoming human on the same day should have been a blaring alarm to her, but it did not even register in her mind," he added, looking let down and annoyed at the red head for what he saw as a personal failure on her part. "She let me down," he finished.

Faith took in everything he had said and more and more she could see the Xander Harris she had once been friends with. The boy whose virginity she had taken. She found herself asking what she would do in his place, his mother and father were dead thanks to what Buffy and Amy had done to him. She believed what he had told her now. She knew Buffy was capable of it, especially where Angel was concerned. She knew from Tara that Amy was a witch who hovered on the brink of dark magic, so much that the dark blond haired witch was slightly fearful of her. So she could see her doing what Buffy asked. Angel was guilty of many things and this just seemed to be one more thing to put on his list. He had corrupted Buffy completely, so much so that she did not even think about sacrificing a friend and ally to make him human.

She was the active Slayer; she knew this as her watcher had confirmed it before her death. But ever since she had come here she had been treated as just a damn spare. Something she did her best to ignore. Yes she had slipped up and fallen into darkness for a time, but she had come back. She had redeemed herself. She had good reasons for her fall, the mistake of killing a human being while on patrol had fractured her mind and combined with her abusive childhood it wasn't good for her and the Mayor had taken advantage of it. Buffy had no reason for her actions, nothing that truly exonerated her for her evil choices. She needed to think this through. She needed time, but would Xander give it to her?

"I need some time to think this all over. You've dumped a lot of stuff on me," Faith finally said. "I can see your point of view boytoy. If it had happened to me I'd be doing the same thing you are," she went on. "But what you're asking me to allow is not easy. You want to kill three of my allies and confront two more with their faults and either way it will weaken our group and make guarding the Hellmouth all the harder," she stated. "I have to think long and hard on this. If what you say is true then Buffy has committed crimes even greater than my own during my own slip and for a lot less understandable reasons," she continued. "I'll look into this and see what I can find out. Just don't do anything until I make my choice, cause if you do I will slay you on sight the next time we meet. Is that understood?" she asked.

"I can accept that Faith. You need time to think and that is okay by me," Xander replied. "You want to know the truth then do so, but be careful. Otherwise Amy might just fuck with your mind the way she does with Giles," he warned her. "I'll keep out of sight and I will hold off on doing anything for now, but don't take to long. My blood calls for revenge for what happened to my mother and one way or the other I will have it," he stated before he turned and began to walk away. "Watch your back, Faith. Buffy and Amy are not to be taken lightly," he told her as he paused. "Keep Tara close to you and get her help, she can be trusted," he added, before vanishing into the night.

Faith was again confused by Xander's knowledge of Tara. Was what he told her true that he got his information from demons in town or was it something else? She did not think demons could gather that much solid info on the group as easily as Xander suggested. No his knowledge about Tara came from somewhere else and she would find out just like she would find out the truth about Buffy, Amy and Angel and this transference spell Xander said they had used to make him a vampire and Angel human. Turning around she headed back to her house, she needed a cup of coffee and a long sleep before she got into this.

+R+

(The Initiative Underground Base)

Maggie Walsh listened as Riley gave his report on the mission. She was slightly annoyed to hear about the three casualties they had suffered due to an error in knowing how much power to put the blasters on for a capture mission. Granted this was one of the reasons the Initiative had been set up, to find out these kind of facts. Still they had two demons to start their experiments on. Tomorrow night she would order the capture of some local vampires.

"You did well Riley. I suggest you and your men get some rest as tomorrow will be another long day and there will be another mission," she finally said, once he finished his report.

"Yes mam I understand," Riley replied with a nod of his head, before he turned and headed to the lift that would take him back up to the dorm. His mind replayed the mission and he cursed again at the loss of three of his men. He had hoped to come back from their first mission with no such loss of life. Hopefully tomorrow they would do better. He would also have a word with Forest and ensure that he did not put his life in danger again. Walsh watched him go for a second or two before she headed for her office. This was only the beginning she knew and before her plans were completes a lot more of Riley's men would be dead, not that he knew that.

+R+

(Giles Residence)

Giles watched Buffy, Amy and Willow leave before closing and locking the door. His mind was already sorting through possible answers as to who the commandos were and why they were in town. He was somewhat apprehensive about this news. It reeked of big trouble. Removing his glasses he turned and headed for bed. He was too tired to really think, but tomorrow he would make some calls to his old contacts in the council and see if they knew anything.

+R+

(Sunnydale Dorms)

Xander stared into the dorm where Tara stayed and just watched the young woman sleep. His talk with Faith had left him with a desire to see Tara and so he had come here. Finding her dorm had been child's play. Standing on the window's balcony he looked in through the open curtains and just watched. Finally he decided to head home, it would not do for Tara to wake up and see him. Turning he jumped to the ground and headed off. Back inside the dorm Tara briefly awoke, after a short feeling of being watched, but seeing no one at the window she turned and went back to sleep.  
7\. Chapter 7  
Chapter 7

(Faith's apartment)

Faith awoke feeling slightly sluggish but quickly shook that off after a hot shower and a quick breakfast. She was going to start digging into the truth of what had happened to Xander if it was true at all. But first she was going to pay a visit to Tara. She was sure Xander's knowledge of her friend came from actual contact with her. While she believed Xander didn't mean her any harm as he had said, she needed to put Tara on guard. If she had met Xander then it was clear she had no real idea who and what he was, frowning she left her apartment and headed to the dorms. She wondered just what his interest in the dark blond witch was, was it the fact she was new to the group and thus outside the circle of those connected to his own time with the group or was it something more. Was it possible Xander had a deeper interest in Tara? If so then that concerned her even more, but maybe it might help her find out the truth as well.

+R+

(Summer's residence)

Buffy awoke quickly and instantly moved to cuddle up to Angel before she remembered she was at her mother's house and that Angel had stayed at a hotel the night before. She missed his presence instantly, but did her best to ignore that fact. Getting up she had a quick shower before heading down for breakfast. She hoped that her mother would not start asking questions about how she was doing and especially on her relationship to Angel. She knew her mother would never approve of Angel no matter what. Him being human had no affect on the hatred and disgust she held for her lover. She was just glad her mother had no clue as to how Angel had become human. She knew her mother had liked Xander and trusted him much to her annoyance.

Her mother gave her a small greeting as she came down the stairs before she went back to reading the paper she had in front of her. Buffy made herself some breakfast and quickly ate it in silence, as she finished she sat back and glanced at her mother who she noted was not watching her.

"Is there a problem Mom?" she inquired.

"No, I was just wondering as to what I owe for the visit as I have not seen you for a week or two?" Joyce responded with a raised eyebrow.

Buffy ignored that little rebuke before answering. "Angel had to stay at a hotel last night after an interview for a new job. I sometimes don't like staying at our apartment on my own if he is away," she admitted with a shrug of her shoulders.

"I see," Joyce said before letting out a sigh. "Well it is nice to see you anyway," she added, although she felt rather let down that she was only here because Angel was away. "How are things?" she inquired.

Buffy wanted to groan but decided to answer and quickly settled back in her seat and began to talk. Her mother listened closely although she noted her frown when she mentioned her concerns about Tara. "You think I'm paranoid about her as well, like Giles?" Buffy all but demanded sulkily.

"I'm afraid so," Joyce admitted with a small smile. "Tara is one of the nicest people I've met, she is very friendly and shy," she explained. "I doubt she has a mean bone in her body and I doubt she would do anything to hurt you or the group and considering she has been helping you patrol, you should have more faith in her loyalty," she added doing her best not to sound too patronizing. "In a lot of ways she reminds me of Xander," she stated before pausing and feeling sad as she recalled the young man was dead now, thanks to his loyalty to her daughter.

Buffy however had a far different reaction to her Mother's statement. She frowned at hearing her state Tara reminded her of Xander. She had never considered that Tara might share some of Xander's traits, she didn't like the sound of that too much, but maybe she was been overly paranoid as Tara was too meek to dare to disobey her or go behind her back like Xander had.

Dismissing this line of thought she finished updating her mother on how things were going in her life, before deciding it was time to head back to the apartment to pick her things.

Joyce watched her go after a far too quick goodbye before she began to wash the dishes and heading for work herself. She felt there was a great gulf between her daughter and herself these days and it pained her to see how much distance there was now between them. She blamed Angel for a lot of that distance as he took up so much of her time, and not in good ways she thought darkly. She was certain Angel was cheating on her daughter, but she knew it was useless to raise this topic with Buffy. Her daughter was completely under his control. Letting out another sigh she turned and headed out to work, locking the door behind her she sometimes wished she had never brought Buffy to Sunnydale.

+R+

(L.A, Motel)

Angel groaned as he woke up and took note he was in a motel and there was a whore pressed up against him. He recalled his lack of success in finding some girl to charm and had thus headed to a place he knew whores tried to pick up clients. He had found one to his likening and quickly took her to the closest motel, after two rounds of rough sex they had passed out. Running a hand through his hair he guessed he better get ready to head back to Sunnydale, otherwise Buffy might start getting suspicious. The girl didn't even wake up as he dressed after a shower and so he grinned and picked up the money he had left on the nightstand next to the bed. He left the room with a smile and headed to his car and quickly took off, at least he had managed to stem the urge for someone else for now. As he drove he recalled that his inquiries at the local demon bar had turned up no potential threats, it seemed Sunnydale was going to be quiet for a damn change.

+R+

(Tara's Dorm)

Tara blinked as she heard someone knocking on her door, looking around she noted Jessica hadn't come back at all and most likely she had spent the night with her boyfriend. Letting out a yawn she got up and went and opened the door. She was somewhat surprised to see Faith on the other side. Out of the entire group she got on best with Faith, at least once she got past her usual shyness around new people. These days she even got on better with Faith than she did with Willow, thanks to Amy's influence on the red head. Moving aside she let her friend in before she headed into the bathroom for a shower.

Faith looked around the dorm for any signs that Xander had been here, but found nothing, at least until she came to Tara's bedside table and find a piece of paper with Xander's name on it, along with a phone number and an address. She recognized it as Xander's former address before he had vanished along with his parents, granted she knew the reason for the sudden disappearance of the Harris's now. Still it confirmed that Tara had come into contact with Xander. The question was now how long had they been meeting?

"What are you doing Faith?" Tara's question made her quickly turn around to find her friend watching her with a raised eyebrow having clearly finished her shower without her noticing and she had changed into some fresh clothes.

"Oh sorry Tara," Faith responded. "I didn't mean to snoop," she added, hoping her friend wouldn't pick up that she was lying in that regard, "Meet some guy have we?" she asked with what she hoped was friendly interest.

Tara rolled her eyes somewhat at the question, but found at least Faith was not been as demanding as Buffy or Willow would be had they seen the piece of paper instead of Faith.

"Tara?" Faith said, noting the stare Tara was giving her and hoping she wasn't been too pushy for information.

"If you must know, yes I have," Tara finally answered as she took the piece of paper off her friend. "We met two days ago and he took me to that new restaurant as a first date," she admitted with a pleased smile. "He was a real gentlemen Faith honestly. He knows about vampires and has done since just after Buffy came to town as they killed his parents," she explained as she sat down on her bed just as did Faith who listened carefully to her friend. "He used to go to school with them," she added.

"And his name?" Faith inquired, wondering what Xander was up to. Was he leading Tara on or had he fallen for her friend for real?

"Alexander Wilson," Tara answered before she realized Faith seemed a little too interested in this than if she was merely curious. "What is going on Faith, why the interest?" she asked.

"I don't know how to tell you this Tare, but I think you new friend is actually Xander Harris who I bumped into last night," Faith admitted, deciding to get straight to the point. "He's back in the dale," she stated.

"That can't be Faith," Tara protested with a shake of her head not believing it for a minute. "Xander, I mean your Xander was killed and turned by vampires and thus could not be my Xander as I met him during the daytime," she argued.

Faith frowned as she learned this piece of information and wondered how in the hell Xander had managed that little trick, clearly he had not told her everything. What was his game here? If he was honestly interested in Tara then did she have a right to interfere? She wondered, but if he was playing with Tara to get back at Buffy and the others than was it not her job to protect Tara? She didn't really know what to do.

"Why has he come back?" Tara asked. "I mean why has your Xander come back here?" she rephrased her questioned.

"He told me the real story of how he got turned Tara and I believe that what he has told me really happened," Faith answered as she ran a frustrated hand through her hair. "According to Xander Buffy found an old scroll that had a powerful transference spell on it, she had Amy cast it so as to make Angel human and Xander into a vampire," she informed her, instantly noting the look of disgust that ran across Tara's face as she spoke. "It went completely by me at the time that Angel became human at the same time Xander was vamped. I can't believe I missed it," she snorted in anger more at herself than anything else. "He couldn't control himself once the transformation happened and he ended up killing his mother and father, and whilst he couldn't give a damn about his dad he did care that he ended up draining his mother dry," she went on. "He has come back for revenge on Buffy, Amy and Angel for what they did to him. He also wants to confront Giles who fucked up by not burning that damn spell and leaving it where Buffy could get to it and basically not realizing Buffy would not be able to resist using that spell," she stated.

Tara frowned as bits of the story began to sound like things Xander had told her just with certain bits changed, was it possible they were one and the same person. But then how had he shown up in the daytime? She wondered with honest confusion. Then her mind drifted to what Faith had said Buffy and Amy had done to Xander Harris. She didn't for one minute not believe Amy would do such black magic. The blond haired witch stank of black magic which was why she was so wary of the girl. She put up with her as she was friends with Buffy and Willow far more than she was.

That Buffy would do something so evil to a friend and ally however was a complete shock. ‘Would she truly do something so underhanded and wrong?' she asked herself. ‘Could they trust a vampire to actually tell the truth?' she wondered further.

"Do you trust that he was actually telling the truth Faith?" Tara asked. "I mean if he is a vampire, why wouldn't he lie or just try and kill you?" she added.

"Because it wasn't just the vampirism Buffy transferred to him Tare," Faith responded bitterly. "Because it was Angel she used the spell on Xander also got his soul curse, thus he isn't no ordinary vamp and he is basically still who he was when he was my friend," she pointed out. "I always knew Buffy would do anything for Angel even when he was a damn vampire, but this is beyond anything I could imagine," she stated her tone dark and hinted at an undercurrent of hatred towards her fellow Slayer.

"Why would she sacrifice a friend?" Tara inquired wanting more information. "I mean is she really that callous?" she wondered aloud.

"According to Xander she did it as revenge for him lying to her about Willow performing the soul curse again during her final battle with Angelus when the bastard was loose again," Faith answered as she recalled what he had told her. "He stated he lied because he knew it would distract Buffy and make her give Willow time to complete the curse, which would be all the time Angelus needed to end the world. Considering what I know of Angelus from the records on him if Buffy didn't go all out then he would have won easily," she explained as Tara listened intently. "And before you ask, yes Buffy would have held back if she had even a little bit of hope that she could have gotten Angel back no matter that the damn world was at stake," she added as she noted Tara frown and guessed what her next question would be.

Tara found all this new information about the blond slayer very disturbing, in fact it made her worry just how much it would take for her to turn her back on her, Faith or any of the others if she valued Xander so little that she could transform him into a vampire. It also told her that her fears about Amy were justified and that she was far more dangerous than she had first thought.

"You said Giles knew about the spell?" Tara said as another bit of information hit her. "Why didn't he hide it or better yet destroy it and why has he not done something to curtail Amy's magical abuse so far?" she all but demanded to know.

"Giles has always given Buffy more credit than she is due, but in this case he really should have known better," Faith snorted in disgust again as she answered. "As to why he has not been doing anything about Amy and why he does not know what happened to Xander, well according to X Amy has been using magic to wipe Giles' memory of certain events and especially of all knowledge of ever finding that scroll," she told her. "Kinda explains why G has been acting somewhat strange I think, his mind must be a mess if Amy has been fucking with it for so long, right?" she speculated.

"Of course it would affect his mind Faith," Tara responded. "Magic isn't supposed to be used that way, depending on how long she has been doing this to Giles then it could have begun to badly affect his thought process," she explained, horrified by the mere thought of Amy playing with someone's mind and especially someone she knew and trusted. "Eventually it could leave him brain dead. We have to do something," she stated.

"Yeah we do, but first I need to verify what Xander has told me," Faith replied. "I believe what he's told me, but I still want to make sure everything he has said is true before I make a choice that may result in them getting killed," she admitted.

"Killed? Xander plans to kill them?" Tara asked with wide eyes.

"For turning him into the one thing he hates most and being responsible for him draining his mother dry I'll say he wants to kill them," Faith stated. "Hell had the bitch done it to me I would want to fucking kill them and so would you Tare," she added, stressing that point to which she reluctantly nodded had it been her mother who had been killed due to the actions of Buffy and Amy. "I know I should stake him to be done with, but Xander has done nothing wrong. He's the victim here if he is telling the truth and Buffy, Amy and Angel are the villains and what they have done is worse than what most of the things we kill do," she went on with a growl and a frown. "Hell Buffy had no real motive for her actions, at least when I slipped into the darkness I had a reason for it, something that explained why I fell," she added softly.

She still felt the pain and the sorrow of what she had done when she had fallen. The guilt would never truly really leave her. She felt Tara pull her into a hug which she allowed, since she had come back she had formed a solid friendship with Tara and she trusted her. Letting the hug comfort her for a few minutes allowed her to push those dark thoughts away and refocus herself, on her chosen task.

"Do you really think your Xander is the same one as the Xander I just started seeing?" Tara asked, as they broke the hug. She really needed to know the answer to this question.

"I think so Tare, as I don't recall any other guy called Alexander in their year at school," Faith answered. "But if it is him I have to wonder how he managed to find a way to come out during the day time," she mused. "And I have to wonder if his interest in you is real or if it is a plot," she added, knowing Tara was not going to like that, but feeling she had to put her on her guard around Xander the next time she saw him.

Tara wanted to instantly defend Xander's interest in her, but managed to stop herself. She had to think clearly on this and not allow her personal feelings get in the way. Granted she had not know Xander that long, but something drew her to him, something made her respond to him on a level she had never felt before. She truly felt he would not harm her, that his interest in her was real that he felt the same way she did. She got off the bed and went and looked out of the window so she could clear her thoughts, but Faith followed her.

"I know you probably won't like this Tara, but the next time you see Xander you have to be on your guard," Faith warned her. "Until we know for sure what is the truth we have to be wary. Promise me you will be careful," she pleaded or as close as she could get to it.

Tara bit back the urge to say Xander wouldn't harm her. "I promise Faith," she replied after a few minutes of silence as she stared out the window, even if she wasn't exactly sure if she could keep it when in Xander's presence.

Faith looked at Tara and noted the hesitant look in her eyes and repressed a sigh. If Xander hurt Tara she swore she was going to stake his ass no matter what the truth was. She turned to leave to begin looking for evidence on what had really happened to Xander and Tara turned and followed and just stared at Faith until she relented and accepted she was going to help.

+R+

(Warehouse)

Xander paced up and down fighting the urge to go and find Tara, but then he thought it best to let it rest for now as he knew that Faith most likely would have picked up on his interest in Tara. Her logical choice would be to go see Tara and more than likely she would find out about his meetings with her. He should have been more careful he thought with a curse.

"You look a little stressed mate?" Spike's voice made him quickly twist around to note the platinum haired vampire was leaning against the wall of the warehouse with a smirk on his face.

"Just thinking of how to continue my plan," Xander said, covering up his real thoughts as he did not want Spike anywhere near Tara. "How did you get here in the day time?" he asked.

"The tunnels underneath us," Spike answered calmly. "They go everywhere in this town thanks to the Mayor. Well before he got his ass barbecued by you and your former friends," he added as he pushed away from the wall and moved forward. "I'll show you all the best points if you want," he offered.

"Yeah I think that might be something I could do with knowing," Xander agreed seeing the advantage of knowing how to get around this place without being seen. "Was there a reason for your visit Spike?" he inquired.

"Just wanted to let you know that we might have a slight problem," Spike answered with a frown. "One of my minions came back last night from the hunt with reports of some kind of military commando unit capturing some demons," he explained. "They were not allies of Summers or her friends, as they were watching the event as well, so it looks like we have some new players in town," he stated.

Xander frowned at this piece of information and didn't like it one bit as it added more problems for him to deal with. If it was a military unit then what was their real purpose in Sunnydale and how had they learned about the truth of vampires and demons? He would have to see these commandos for himself and then he could make plans how to deal with them.

"We'll check them out tonight and then we can make plans to deal with them," he finally said to Spike, who nodded as he was interested in this new twist as well.

"If we are to carry out your plan then we'll have to take them out before they get established here," Spike advised. "We wait and it gives them time to bring in more people and fortify their base where ever it is," he warned.

"Good points," Xander agreed while frowning a bit. "We'll have to follow them back to their base so we know where they are and then, if we can turn one of the fuckers, we can get inside their base and kill them all or turn them at least," he suggested thoughtfully. "How are you doing on the recruiting angle? Because if we do it that way we'll need numbers on our side," he added.

"Slowly at the moment as you told us to keep a low profile, so that Blondie doesn't get wind of any of us being back in the dale," Spike answered with a shake of his head. "But still mine and Dru's reps mean everyone we have talked to has signed up," he added with a cocky grin. "Give us another night or two and we'll have plenty of numbers on our side," he promised.

"Good, well I've got nothing better to do so why don't you show me these tunnels," Xander replied as he grabbed his trench coat and put it on.

"No problem, follow me mate," Spike agreed and quickly headed to the back of the warehouse where an open manhole cover was and then he quickly dropped down into the tunnel below and Xander quickly followed him.  
8\. Chapter 8  
Chapter 8

(Sunnydale)

Xander leaned against one of the walls of the tunnel he was in as he contemplated what he had learned from Spike. His tour around the tunnel system had been enlightening to say the least. Had they known about the system when he had still been human, he would have suggested they firebomb it or cave it in as best they could. It had to be the vampire and demon's best advantage in Sunnydale. They could get anywhere within the town thanks to the extensive tunnel system.

It made him wonder why Angel had not told them about the system, about how it made things easier for the enemy to move. Then again perhaps it was not much of a surprise that he hadn't said anything. The bastard was evil to the core no matter what Buffy said. Soul or no soul, Angel only looked out for one person and that was himself. Shoving off from the wall he headed back to his base, his thoughts turned back to Tara as they often did and he hoped whatever Faith said to her did not scare her away.

+R+

(Giles Residence)

Tara watched as Faith did her best to look around the Watcher's home while not raising the man's suspicions. He had been very surprised to see them and it was clear he was lonely and that Buffy and the others didn't come here often. She wondered what Faith was actually hoping to find here. She doubted Buffy or Amy would have been stupid enough to leave any evidence of their betrayal in the Watcher's home. Her thoughts turned to Faith's belief that her Xander was one and the same as Xander Harris. If it was true then why hadn't he told her the truth? Granted she guessed a lot of it had to do with him not wanting Buffy to know he was back, still it hurt to think he didn't trust her.

She didn't think for a minute that he was using her in his plans for revenge. For some reason she knew his interest in her was real. She felt it deep inside her. She was certain of that, but she couldn't help but wonder what he truly wanted of her. ‘Did he expect her to help him in his search for revenge or did he plan to keep her out of it?' she thought somewhat frustrated.

"Not that I mind the visit Faith, Tara," Giles's voice cut through her wandering thoughts. "But so far you have said little," he pointed out. "Now what is the reason for your visit?" he inquired.

"I think something is here Giles," Faith lied easily, having had lots of practice before she came to Sunnydale when she was on the run after her first Watcher was murdered. "For the last couple of nights I've been sensing something, but so far it is has not come out into the open," she informed him. "Problem is Buffy isn't picking up anything and she thinks I'm paranoid, but I'm certain something is here watching us Giles, I swear," she stated.

Tara was a little awed at how easily Faith lied and yet kept a straight face. It was something she could never do as she just didn't have the control necessary for it. She glanced at Giles and noted he seemed concerned which told her he believed Faith's story. This just impressed her even more with Faith's talent in this area. Although underhanded and not something to be used on friends, she guessed there were times when lying was the only option they had. If they had any hope of finding the truth about Xander and Buffy and Amy's role in his turning, then they had to keep their search a secret from them.

If they told Giles the truth he would confront them, which in turn would alert Buffy and Amy to the truth and that Xander had come back. The end result would be that they would all end up having their minds messed with and Xander would probably end up staked. That thought made her sick and she quickly did her best to forget it, she had to stay hopeful.

"I see," Giles finally spoke as he stood up and began to pace. "Did you sense what kind of demon we might be dealing with?" he asked.

"Nope, but it gives me the creeps whatever it is," Faith answered faking a shiver. "The only thing that tops it is Kakistos," she told him. "It is dangerous Giles and we have to find it," she stated with a frown.

"I agree. However I'm somewhat unsure how to start and I'm also confused as to why Buffy has not been sensing the same thing as you have Faith," Giles responded with a shake of his head. "Maybe she is correct and you are being paranoid," he suggested, which made the dark haired slayer glare at him.

Faith was annoyed that he doubted her, even if she was lying through her teeth somewhat. The fact that unless Buffy was feeling the same thing she did he would always doubt her made her angry. It was possible she mused that this was part of Amy's hold on him, but Giles had always taken Buffy's side over hers and maybe Amy had increased that kind of thing and it was difficult for her to know if she was only thinking that because of what Xander had told her.

"Mr. Giles, I think you are allowing your loyalty to Buffy to cloud your judgment," Tara interceded, which resulted in both of them to turn to look at her. "Faith is the active Slayer by her first watchers admission. Would her senses not be sharper than Buffy's?" she inquired.

Giles almost colored at the shy witches' statement. He knew without doubt that Buffy had ceased being the active Slayer from the moment she had died at the hands of the Master. However he had kept that fact from her, believing it would only cause Buffy undue upset and heartache. He supposed it was wrong of him to deny Faith her due respect and trust as he had done when she first arrived, but for some reason he could not help but see Buffy as the real Slayer.

"You should take the warning to heart Mr. Giles. It doesn't matter if Buffy doesn't see it as Faith does," Tara continued to hammer her point home. "You can't take the risk that she is correct or not, it could cost someone their lives," she stated grimly.

Giles had to concede Tara's point there. Ignoring Faith's warning could indeed get someone killed. He had to be smarter than that if he intended to help them stay alive. He guessed he would have to deal with Buffy's anger when she learned he was trusting Faith's instincts over her own, but it was the smart play.

"You are indeed correct Tara and I am sorry that it took your gentle rebuke to make me see it," Giles finally spoke. "I guess I'm so used to Buffy seeing the danger first. I meant no offense Faith," he added as he turned to look at Faith, who was still glaring at him.

"No sweat G. I'm used to you taking her side over mine," Faith finally responded as she finally relented and looked away, missing the slight flinch Giles made at that rebuke. "I'll keep you informed if I see something more," she added before she turned to leave.

Tara moved to follow before she paused near the door and turned back to Giles who was looking somewhat sheepish. She guessed he was not pleased with how he had acted.

"That was not a nice way to treat her Mr. Giles. She has paid enough for her errors," Tara told him with a slight glare. "I think it is time you realized you are only making things worse, that how you treated her before and now aided in her previous fall," she continued. "Maybe you should look at the person she has become and not what she once was like Buffy and the others do," she finished before turning around and leaving as well.

Giles watched her go and felt very small at the rebuke of the usually shy witch. Her words hit him hard and made him sad that he may have helped push Faith over the edge. He closed the door and retook his seat, running a hand through his hair he guessed it was about time he began to look at Faith at how she was now and not as she had been when she first arrived.

+R+

(Warehouse)

Xander lay on his bed and was wondering when would be the best time to talk to Tara. He knew he would have to come clean with her once they met up again. Any attempt to lie to her would destroy whatever bond he had managed to forge with her. The point where he would have to come clean with Tara had come sooner than he had expected, but still it was here. It would be a very important moment as well. He just hoped the bond they shared was already strong enough to make her want to keep seeing him.

Had he made a mistake in showing himself to Faith? Was his slip up about Tara going to come back to haunt him? He hoped not, for she was the one thing he wanted more than revenge. Letting out a slight growl he looked out the tinted window and noted it was still too early to go out, being a vampire sucked. He should be grateful he could go out into the sunlight for five hours a day. Others of his kind were confined to nighttime only.

+R+

(Sunnydale)

Tara followed Faith as she headed for the Summers home. She believed that they had more of a chance finding some proof of Xander's claims there than at the watchers. Although Buffy didn't spend much time at her mother's anymore, it was possible she would use the house to hide things she didn't want others to find, such as the transference spell. Then again it occurred to her that it was possible Buffy and Amy may have destroyed the spell to ensure no one found it and used it to reverse what had been done, but then maybe she kept it just in case Angel was turned into a vampire again.

That would be something she could see the blond haired Slayer doing. The question was where would she hide such a dangerous and priceless spell and could it be found without some sort of confrontation with Buffy? She didn't relish the idea of going head to head with Buffy and Amy and of the two Amy was the one that she feared most. The dark magic Amy had been using chilled her to the bone, it was powerful and corruptive and she was certain the blond witch was already on a path that would drive her as insane as her mother had been just before her.

"You ok Tare?" Faith's concerned voice made her snap out of her thoughts and turn to face her friend who was looking at her in true concern.

"I'm okay Faith," Tara responded. "I was just thinking about where they could have hidden the spell if they didn't destroy it," she added doing her best not to show any of the fear she had been feeling, but Faith saw through it.

"That isn't all that's bothering you, is it?" Faith asked as she pulled up short and made Tara face her.

"No I'm concerned about facing Buffy and Amy if everything Xander has told you turns out to be true," Tara finally relented after trying to move on only for Faith to ensure she remained still. "I fear Amy," she stated.

"I'm not exactly looking forward to going head to head with Buffy again either Tara," Faith admitted with great reluctance as it was not something she liked to admit, but she felt it was necessary here to help her friend.

She had fought Buffy before during her brief fall into darkness and almost ended up dead, but she had survived and she had learned from the experience. However she didn't look forward to confronting the blond haired Slayer again, but if she had to, she would. If what Xander had told her was true then she would have to confront and take down Buffy, before she did anymore harm to innocent people.

"I know how you feel Tara, but if what Xand said was true, it is our duty to act," Faith finally said, placing what she hoped was a comforting hand on her shoulder. "If they've done such evil they have to be taken down and if Xand really does love you then he will be right there with you, ensuring no one touches you and that includes Amy," she assured her. "He was good at that as a human and I bet he is even better at it as a vampire with the abilities that go with it," she added with a smile.

Tara couldn't help but smile at the idea of Xander protecting her, something she could see him doing. Nodding in agreement with Faith and feeling somewhat better she began to walk again, with Faith quickly catching up.

+R+

(The Initiative Underground Base)

Riley moved through the underground base with ease as he headed for Professor Walsh's office, he wondered what kind of mission she would assign them tonight. Their last mission had led to the loss of three of their fellow commandos and the capture of two demons. Hopefully this time the success of their mission wouldn't cost them so much. Entering the office he quickly snapped to attention and saluted before waiting for Walsh to begin talking.

Walsh finally looked up from the notes she was reading and regarded Riley for a few seconds. "Ah Riley good," she said finally. "I want you to start preparing your men for a capture mission tonight. Full tactical gear and do try and not lose too many men this time either," she ordered.

"Yes mam," Riley responded, although he felt angered at her casual dismissal of the loss of three of their men, but managed to keep control of himself and didn't speak out of turn. "May I ask what our targets are?" he inquired.

"I want you to capture at least three to four vampires, two males and two females if you can help it," Walsh answered. "We need to know what kind of abilities they have and how best to defeat them. They are, according to the scouting reports, the major threat in this town," she explained. "I also want you to scout out the supposed local demon bar. It might be in our interest to keep an eye on it," she added.

"Wouldn't it be wiser to burn it down, Mam?" Riley inquired, frowning somewhat as he tried to imagine a bar sourly for the purpose of serving vampires and demons.

"Possibly," Walsh admitted with a nod of her head. "However it might also prove an advantage and a source of information. There are reports from our scouts that the man who owns the bar sells information as well," she informed him. "Someone like that may prove useful in locating our prey don't you think?" she asked, pinning her gaze on him.

"Yes Mam," Riley answered and he did see the possible advantage in such a person and yet he still couldn't help but feel it could also be a dangerous place to leave standing. But it was not for him to say one way or another, Walsh was in charge of the unit and he would follow her orders.

"You can go now Riley and prepare the men for tonight" Walsh dismissed him with a wave of her hand as she went back to reading her notes.

She only looked back up when she heard the door to her office close behind him. Riley was a loyal type and he didn't argue for which she was grateful. She had big plans concerning what they were doing here, and not all of it was legal or on the orders of her superiors, but that didn't bother her one bit. Sometimes sacrifices had to be made in the interest of science. Riley and his men would get her all the specimens she could want, they would bleed and die at her command. The sense of power she now had was addictive to say the least. Leaning back in her seat she wondered when she would be able to start her special project.

+R+

 

(Angel's Apartment)

Angel entered the apartment relieved to see Buffy was still out, most likely she was with Willow or Amy. This suited him just fine as he was not yet ready to deal with her clinging to him, which she undoubtedly would do once she found he had returned. It could be annoying, but sometimes he found it amusing and it gave him a thrill to know he had conquered and tamed the Slayer. He quickly sat down after getting a beer from the fridge and wondered what to do tonight. He didn't feel like going to the Bronze again as the place was dull and boring. Maybe he could convince Buffy to go somewhere else. A chuckle escaped him as he imagined the look of the whores face when she woke up to find him gone and the money he owed her missing as well.

+R+

(Summer's Residence)

Joyce Summers was surprised to say the least to see Faith and Tara at the door. She hadn't seen much of them since Buffy had moved into Angel's apartment. She let them in without inviting them in, it didn't matter it was daylight still, she had grown used to leaving out the invitation these days since learning the truth about what really went on in this town. Faith quickly began looking around while trying not to look like she was and Tara nervously did her best to engage Joyce in conversation.

Joyce frowned wondering what was going on because she was certain they hadn't come just to check up on her. Tara was too nervous and was stuttering heavily, not something she had seen in a while and Faith seemed to be searching for something. Finally she had enough and decided to get some answers.  
9\. Chapter 9  
Chapter 9

(The Initiative Underground Base)

Riley sat on his bunk thinking about the mission he would lead that night. He was hoping that this time they wouldn't lose anyone as they had with their first mission. Three men dead on a first try would be acceptable for some, but to him it was a waste of good men. Yes they had learned a few things, but he believed it had not been worth three men's lives. Hopefully capturing some vampires would be easier.

"You okay Riley?" Graham asked. That startled him a little and making him spin around to find his friend leaning against the door with a concerned look on his face.

"Yeah Graham," he finally responded, doing his best to look upbeat. "I'm just hoping tonight goes better than last time," he admitted with a shrug.

"I think it will, as not even Forest will be so damn cocky after almost getting his head ripped off," he pointed out with a shark's grin. "Damn fool was so over confident, but sadly he wasn't the only one. They know better now," he assured him as he slapped him on the back, hoping to reassure him. "We didn't have the Intel to bring those demons down easy, now we do and hopefully those three lives we lost will be the only losses we suffer from this point on," he stated hopefully.

"I hope so, because if we lose to many men this whole project could be scrapped and us with it," Riley shot back as they headed back up to the frat house their base was hidden under to get something to eat.

"Stay positive Riley," Graham told him. "Now that we know what we are facing I think things will improve. Before it was all hearsay and myth no matter what the brass told us," he explained. "Now we've seen it first hand and we know we have to do our best to protect the people out there who know nothing about it," he continued. "That is our mission and I think our people can pull it off, focus on that," he added.

"Yeah, you're right," Riley finally agreed after thinking it over "We can pull it off with minimal losses I'm certain," he added with as much confidence as he could, allowing his friend's words to dampen his concern.

+R+

(Sunnydale, Summer's Residence)

Joyce continued to observe Faith as she discretely looked around her house. She wouldn't be surprised to find she had been snooping around upstairs as well when she asked to use the toilet. Something was going on here that she needed to know about, something to do with Buffy considering how interested they were in looking around the house. Tara's nervousness continued to get worse, she was stuttering so badly she was barely making any sense. She decided to cut to the point before the poor girl got any worse. Standing up she got in front of Faith as she tried to pretend to go toilet again.

"Ok that is enough from both of you," she told them in a stern voice. "What is going on?" she demanded to know. "And do not bother trying to lie to me. Since you entered this house Faith you've been looking for something and I want to know what," she added as she glared mildly at the brunette who winced slightly as she realized they had indeed been caught. "And Tara has been so nervous in trying to keep me distracted that she is stuttering badly, something which she hasn't done in a while," she went on. "Now I repeat what is going on?" she demanded to know once again.

Faith and Tara exchanged unsure looks as they had no idea how to explain what they were up to. How do you tell someone their own daughter has done evil things? That she betrayed a friend and turned him into a monster. Even with all the things Joyce knew these days they expected that to be a hard thing to believe.

"Joyce...," Faith started to say before going silent again, still having no clue on what to say exactly.

"Has something happened to Buffy?" Joyce asked, seeing the difficulty the two were having in explaining things.

"N...No she is F..fine...," Tara stuttered, even as she tried to fight the reflex. It had been a long time since she had such trouble speaking properly and having it come back now of all times was frustrating. "But she may have done something that is beyond all reason," she managed to get out, although it took all her concentration to do it.

Joyce frowned at Tara as she tried to understand exactly what she meant. It sounded bad whatever it was and she didn't like to think badly of her daughter. However since finding out the truth of her daughter's life as the Slayer she had seen plenty to make her feel like that. "What do you mean Tara and please tell me in a way I can understand," she added with a small glare.

Tara and Faith again exchanged unsure looks before Faith decided to step up and tell her. "Xander isn't dead," she stated and as expected the news stunned the elder woman. "He was never dead. Buffy lied about how he ended up a vamp and about his fate," she continued. "Before you say anything Joyce, let me ask you something," she cut in before Joyce could respond. "Did you notice that at the exact moment Angel supposedly became human again, Xander became a vampire?" she asked.

Joyce's was confused and somewhat off balance, but she tried to think back and find the answer. She did recall that the two events seemed to mesh. ‘But what did that have to do with anything?' she thought. "What are you saying Faith?" she demanded somewhat angry now. "That she somehow made it happen?" she asked.

"I'm sorry to say so, but yeah," Faith answered as confidently as she could. "Where Angel is concerned that girl will go to any lengths to satisfy her needs and she needed him to be human," she stated as a dark look seemed to cloud her features. "Xander was used as the sacrifice so that she could make Angel human, she damned him," she finished.

"It is the truth Joyce," Tara added softly, noting the growing confusion and anger on the older woman's face and knowing this was not going to go down well. "For Angel she was willing to betray and condemn a friend," she stated.

Joyce glanced between the two young women and noted they both looked certain of what they were saying, but it couldn't be she assured herself. ‘Buffy would never do what they were suggesting. She would never have turned on Xander, would she?' she couldn't help thinking. No she shook her head in denial. Buffy would never go that far.

"I know it isn't something you want to believe Joyce," Tara told her gently as she stood up and moved to stand in front of the older woman with as much strength as she could and met her angry gaze. "But as far as we can tell it is what happened," she stated calmly.

"How can you stand there and say that Tara?" Joyce finally exploded. "Buffy is the Slayer. Her job is to protect people and to save lives," she raged. "She wouldn't do whatever it is you think she did, that she somehow made Xander a vampire and Angel a human," she spat.

"If what Xander says is true then she did," Tara countered somewhat heatedly, for some reason feeling annoyed even thought she knew Joyce wouldn't accept what they said easily.

"If Xander is a vampire, why in God's name are you listening to a thing he says?" Joyce demanded to know, glaring down at Tara who did not flinch in return as she expected she would do. "In fact why have you not alerted Buffy to the danger of him being back?" she added.

"Because Xander isn't a threat to us," Faith cut in as she moved to stand at her friend's side and met Joyce's glare as well. "And if I find what I am looking for, then I know for a fact he told us the truth about what really happened to him," she explained.

Joyce frowned. "What are you looking for Faith?" she inquired, pushing back her anger as best she could. "What is it you came here to find?" she demanded to know.

"A spell, a very powerful spell," Faith answered. "According to Xander, Buffy found it with Amy and Giles and as soon as she did she wanted to use it to turn Angel human, but Giles refused as it required a sacrifice," she explained. "He made one mistake in that he left the spell where Buffy could get her hands on it. She convinced Amy to cast the spell as she had already begun to tread a path of magic abuse," she continued the story as she took a seat as did Tara, however Joyce remained standing. "She chose Xander as the sacrifice as a means of revenge," she stated before Joyce cut in.

"Revenge for what?" she asked. "As far I know they had a good friendship," she pointed out as she finally sat down as well and did her best not to explode again.

"That isn't true. Like all friendships it had its ups and downs and they argued a lot," Tara took up the story. "But when Angel turned into Angelus their friendship hit its breaking point," she informed her. "Xander pushed and pushed for Buffy to kill Angelus, but she kept refusing and this strained their friendship," she told her, explaining what Faith had said Xander had told her. "The final nail in the coffin was his lie to her at the very end. He lied about Willow redoing the soul spell because she had only just woken up from her coma and she had never before performed magic and to think she could succeed with such a powerful spell was a big leap," she went on.

"Before you ask why he needed to lie to Buffy about this I'll tell you," Faith cut back in as she knew what Joyce would ask next. "He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if he told her the truth she would hold back and try and buy time for Willow to complete the spell," she told her as she stared at Joyce who listened intently to them. "And without her going all out, he knew Angelus would win. He would kill her or worse turn her and then open up that damn portal to hell and the whole world would suffer for eternity for her choice," she stated, her tone growing cold as she spoke, showing what she thought of Buffy's actions had she done that. "He wouldn't take such a risk and he lied. It paid off, even though Willow did complete the spell, but not in time to stop Angelus from opening the portal," she continued the tale. "Because Xander lied she was in the right mind set to kill Angelus to seal the portal back up and the world was saved from hell," she finished.

Joyce's eyes widened as she heard this, because it was a version of events she hadn't heard before and it was becoming clear that Buffy may had watered down events when she told her what happened during her fights as the Slayer. She still held onto the belief Buffy wouldn't have turned on Xander, but it was becoming clear that things were not as clear cut as she had once believed.

"Buffy ran away after that night as you'll remember, but when she came back and talked things out with Willow, the fact Xander had lied came to light and they had a big fight about it," Faith went on. "According to him she eventually seemed to accept that he had only done it to protect her and everyone else, but it seems she didn't forgive him and began to carry a deep seated hatred for him, which she hid until she found that damn spell," she growled a little at the end. "It was the perfect means for her getting back at Xander for what he did and he never saw it coming," she stated simply, rubbing her eyes a little as she leaned back in her seat.

"If," Joyce began, before pausing as she tried to clear her now muddled mind. "If what you say is true, then why didn't Giles realize what has happened? Surely if Xander was telling the truth about this spell he would have realized what had happened?" she inquired.

"He would, to be sure," Tara agreed with a nod of her head. "Except it seems Amy has been messing with Giles's mind. She can erase his memories of anything she wishes and wiped the knowledge of him finding the spell from his mind," she explained and tried to repress the shiver that ran up her spine at what Amy was capable of doing.

Faith took note of this and reached out and took Tara's hand in hers, hoping to provide some comfort. Tara gave her a weak smile of thanks in return as it did nothing really to allay her fears of her fellow witch.

"Amy is far more dangerous than most people realize. She probably even surpasses her mother for how evil she can be," Faith concluded darkly. "She didn't care about what she was doing to Xander. She didn't care that once the spell was complete he was so overcome by the effects of being turned into a vampire he drained both his parents in seconds," she said, her tone now sending cold shivers up Joyce's spine as she imagined the horror Xander's parents must have gone through if this story was in anyway true. "All she cared about was getting the chance at performing that damn spell and to feel its effects on her and to harness the power of it," she stated as Joyce tried to rally a defense for her daughter, but found her own mind making certain connections that made what she was being told all the more possible.

+R+

(Abandoned Mansion)

Xander entered the mansion through the tunnel system wondering how Spike's recruitment was going. He found the master vampire leaning against a wall looking thoughtful and Drusilla was watching him from the bed she sat on. When she took note of his presence she smiled a rather sultry smile at him, which sent two conflicting shivers up his spine. One was fear and distaste, which he was sure came from his soul which he still had and the other was one of disturbing pleasure which he was sure came from the demon in him.

This was one of the problems of being a souled vampire he dealt with daily. He understood a bit more of why Angel had been such an undecided moron. The two conflicting states of his nature were constantly at war with one another. Especially in certain areas such as the urge to feed or to have sex and this made things difficult. Thankfully he had enough control these days that he did not usually indulge the demon. But for some odd reason the way Dru was looking at him as if she wanted to fuck his brains out was making the demon stronger. Turning away he brought up every memory of Tara he could in an effort to push it back down, thankfully it worked and he felt himself regain control.

"You wanted something Mate?" Spike asked, making him turn and realize he had finally taken note Xander was here. It was almost clear he had not taken note of the looks Dru had been shooting him, which was probably a good thing as he did not need to get on Spike's bad side.

"I just came to find out how your recruitment is going?" Xander answered. "And If you'd found out anymore about this military commando unit," he added as he took a seat on the bed and tried to ignore Dru, who crawled closer to him.

"Recruitment is going well, which is no surprise when you consider our reps," Spike told him with a smirk and no small amount of ego, which when Xander thought about it was probably well earned. "As for the commando unit, so far they have not shown themselves again, but I have given orders for a watch to be kept in case they do and if possible for one of them to be taken alive so that we can get some real information on them," he explained with a confident look. "Hopefully tonight or tomorrow we'll have our answers about them and why they are here," he stated.

"Good," Xander said with a nod. "I am certain they are going to be a problem, unless we deal with them quickly," he pointed out as he ran a hand through his hair.

"I am forced to agree," Spike shot back with a slight growl. "We've never had any military types try and wipe us out before," he told him before pausing as a thoughtful look came to him. "Well that isn't quite true. I heard a tale from one of the older vampires in the world that the Knights Templar tried to wipe us out when they found out we existed," he explained with a weird smile. "But it seems that proved more than they could handle. Many were turned and in the end they ended up being betrayed by their own people and were destroyed so the threat was ended," he continued.

Xander frowned and wondered if the story could possibly be true before he shook his head and focused on other things. Ancient history was no concern of his right now.

"While that is an interesting piece of information Spike, I think we should focus on the here and now. Make sure your people know to avoid being captured," Xander told him. "There is a small possibility that this group has some contact with Buffy and her group. Remember we can't afford for her to know about us being back until we are ready to finish her," he reminded him.

"Don't worry kid. I'll make sure my men know the deal," Spike assured him, somewhat annoyed by the kid's tone, but he didn't do anything because he knew he had not meant any offense. He was focused and the plan he had put forward was one that might actually work, so for now he let him be.

"Good, I'll be back tonight to hunt with you," Xander said as he got back up and headed back for the tunnel he had used to get here. "We will capture one of their grunts ourselves and have your people expand their numbers some more," he suggested before he vanished into the tunnel.

"Do as he says Spike," Dru said and for once she actually sounded sane, making Spike turn around and look at her carefully. "Kitten knows what he is doing. He can help us destroy the Slayer and her friends and help you gain revenge on Angel," she advised him with a smirk.

Spike frowned somewhat and was wondering at this sudden turn about in Dru's behavior. Then again he had noted that for a few years she had been like this off and on. He had never really paid much attention to it before, but now it had his complete focus. The more surprising thing was her mention of revenge on Angel without any mention of Angelus or Daddy as she called him normally. It was almost as if he didn't exist to her anymore. ‘But why?' Was the question.

+R+

(Sunnydale, Summer's Residence)

Faith and Tara exchanged looks one more time as they waited for Joyce to say something. She had been quiet for a long while now. It was kinda disturbing, but neither dared to interrupt whatever thoughts were going on inside her head. Faith hoped she had not made a huge mistake in telling her about Xander not only being still somewhat alive, but that he was back in Sunnydale as well. Tara just waited and prayed Joyce would allow them to search the house for the spell. If they could find it then maybe they could get Willow and Giles to help them as well. They would have to find a way to protect their minds against Amy's magic. She would look into her mother's books when she got back to her dorm she decided.  
10\. Chapter 10  
(The Initiative Underground Base)

Riley frowned and was somewhat uneasy as he began to get ready for the night ahead. He was certain this time the patrol would go more smoothly and that he wouldn’t lose any more men. At least he prayed he would not lose any more men against the creatures they were here to fight. He was uncertain how things would go and with Walsh wanting them to actually capture the things he was even more unsure how things would go. Beside him the rest of the team was also going over their gear for the night’s mission. He noted Forest didn’t look as confident as he had done the previous night. 

‘Good,’ he thought. ‘Maybe the loss of three men hadn’t been for nothing if he and the others learned to be more careful,’ he continued to think.

“Hey boss, do you want us to bring some of the heavier weapons along?” Jake shouted from the doorway. 

Riley looked back for a few seconds before deciding against it. Walsh’s orders were to capture four vampires. She wouldn’t be happy if he instead destroyed them out of fear or worse lack of skill and so he was stuck in a corner with nowhere to go. This job had seemed like his big break when he was first offered it. He had felt special to be considered as the leading soldier of the unit. He was Walsh’s TA and second in command. The fact she hadn’t asked for a higher ranking officer had filled him with pride. Now he was almost regretting the fact there was no superior officer for him to answer to, all the hard choices were on him and that sucked. 

“No leave them. We are on a capture mission not search and destroy,” Riley finally answered to which Jake nodded and went to begin preparing his gear. 

“You’d think Walsh would allow for some measure of failure here, especially after we lost three men already?” Graham muttered to him. “If we can’t capture these things we should be allowed to destroy them,” he pointed out. 

“I agree, but Walsh doesn’t strike me as someone who accepts failure Graham,” Riley responded. “She wants those specimens so she can begin her research in what these things can do, and more important to us how to kill them best,” he continued. 

“I still think we should bring some heavier firepower than just our blasters and sidearm Riley,” Graham shot back. “We were lucky that pushing the blasters to their full power brought those demons down. What if the next demon is immune to the blasters?” he inquired with a frown.

Riley had no answer to his friend’s question, but for now he wasn’t willing to take the matter to Walsh. But he promised himself if they kept loosing men he would demand they be allowed to bring some heavier firepower.

In her office Maggie Walsh watched the conversation of her men through the security monitors. She was pleased to see Riley had come to understand how she did things. Miller she decided might be a problem. Granted she couldn’t fault his reasoning, but she had plans other than destroying the creatures they were here for. In her view these things could be harnessed for the betterment of mankind, or more importantly could be turned into an army to gain ultimate power. She just had to find a way to gain control of the creatures, but she had her scientists already working on some kind of control chip. 

She leaned back in her seat and hoped the mission tonight went smoothly. She needed to get her research of the ground quickly before her superiors decided this whole thing was a bad idea and shut them all down. That had to be avoided at all costs she thought. Shaking her head she went back to her paper work, but continued to monitor her men’s conversations. But she noted none of them discussed the upcoming mission, even Miller seemed to have settled down somewhat much to her satisfaction. She preferred her soldiers to be completely loyal to her objectives; she did not like her methods to be questioned. 

+ROTV+

(Summer’s residence)

Tara was beginning to get more and more nervous as Joyce remained silent. The older woman continued to stare off into space thinking over everything they had told her. She glanced at Faith who could only shrug in response, neither of them dared to push Joyce and so they continued to wait. As she waited she thought about what she would say when she came face to face with Xander again. The idea that he was the same person who Faith had known back in the day was still hard to believe. That he was a vampire was even harder to swallow. ‘Why had he not told her the truth?’ she kept asking herself. The only answer she could find was he didn’t want to take the chance she would mention him to Buffy. Trust takes time she knew and yet she liked to think they trusted one another from the start. Hopefully when they did meet again he wouldn’t attempt to lie to her again and come clean about his purpose here. And more important what his true intentions were towards her, did he truly have feelings for her or was he using her in his plan for revenge? The answer to that question chilled her to find out.

Joyce finally snapped out of her thoughts and stood up and moved to the window to look outside. Her mind was split in two as to what to believe. Xander had been someone she trusted to not only look after her daughter, but if it came to it then give his life for Buffy. The idea that she could have betrayed that loyalty he had shown her, that she could have purposely turned him into a vampire, souled or not, was horrifying to believe. But where Angel was concerned she knew, even if she fought the idea, that Buffy would do anything for him, even betray a friend. And if what Faith had told her was true then she had done it for revenge, because Xander had been smart enough to not tell Buffy the truth about the soul spell. Even she knew that had Buffy known about Willow redoing the spell at that time she would have held back and Angelus would have killed her. 

She had heard both sides of the story, a very one sided view from Buffy and a more real sounding version from Giles and Cordelia. Now she was faced with a choice she didn’t want to make, but if she was honest with herself she had already lost her daughter to Angel a long time ago. She turned to see Faith and Tara had also stood up and were now awaiting her choice. She let out a sigh knowing there was only one thing to do. 

“You may look for the scroll Faith,” Joyce told them. “But in return I want you to set up a meeting between me and Xander,” she added sternly. 

Faith and Tara had been very relieved to hear Joyce say they could look for the scroll, but they were instantly uneasy when they heard her added statement. They had no idea how Xander would take such a demand, as a human he had been very close to Joyce often looking up to her as a surrogate mother just as Faith had. Faith had no idea how Xander might view Joyce now, but neither she nor Tara had much of a choice here. They would have to find Xander and tell him what Joyce wanted and then hope he was in a mood to be gracious with the elder woman. 

“Deal,” she finally said, ignoring Tara’s pointed look. 

“What if the scroll is not here but at her apartment?” Joyce inquired, not missing for a second the look Tara had shot Faith. She knew her demand might cause a bit of a problem, especially if Xander didn’t want to meet with her. 

However no matter what, she had to find a way to save her daughter’s life. No matter what had happened she would not allow Xander to kill Buffy. She couldn’t fathom anything that would make her allow such a thing and she cursed Angel for coming into their lives. She also couldn’t help but curse her ex-husband Hank, because their daughter took after that womanizer quite a lot she thought bitterly. 

“If it is then I will get it,” Faith told her in response with a determined look. “Might be difficult, but I will get it,” she stated before she turned and headed for Buffy’s room. 

This left Joyce with Tara who continued to look nervous and if Joyce was not mistaken uneasy, but clearly not with her. There was something else bothering the younger woman, and if she was a betting woman she guessed it had something to do with Xander’s return.

+ROVT+

(Warehouse)

Xander sat on his bed waiting for night to fall. He had already used up his five hours of sunlight so he had to wait. He’d had no luck in locating Tara and he was worried she may be wary of him. He was certain that by now Faith had told her the truth of his identity. He got up and began to pace up and down. His next meeting with Tara wasn’t going to be easy he thought. He half regretted revealing himself to Faith, but he knew there had been no other choice. He just had to pray that his lies had not damaged Tara’s trust in him. He closed his eyes and pictured her in his mind. This helped calm him and he smiled. After he helped Spike capture and turn one of these soldiers who were in town he would go looking for Tara.

+ROTV+

(Angel's Apartment)

Buffy entered the apartment and was relieved to see Angel was back, she quickly rushed over and jumped into his arms. She missed the look of annoyance that flashed across her lover’s face as she did so. She had missed him so much. Finally releasing him she stepped back and looked him in the eye, before she darted forward and kissed him before pulling back. 

“Did you get the job?” Buffy asked as she moved away and into the kitchen to start making a cup of tea. 

Angel was about to ask what the hell she was talking about when he remembered the lie he had told her before he had headed for LA. He cursed himself for almost slipping up. Granted he had complete control over Buffy these days, but he didn’t want to do anything that might cause her to begin questioning him, arrogance was the one major downfall of all evil things he knew. It was something he had learned from his time as a vampire. It was arrogance that had led him to be cursed by the damn gypsies in the first place all those years ago. While he may be human these days his soul was still as black as it always had been. His entire personality was the same as Angelus at his worst except he very rarely felt the urge or need to kill someone. 

“I don’t know yet,” Angel finally responded with a shrug. “They said they would get back to me once they had reviewed my interview,” he told her.

“Oh,” Buffy said with a frown, disappointed for her lover. “Well I’m sure they will hire you. I don’t see how they couldn’t?” she asked theoretically.

Angel smirked behind Buffy’s back at the way she completely supported him without any prompting. Had he still been a vampire this would be the greatest thrill ever that he had tamed a Slayer to be basically his pet. No one else had as much power over a Slayer as he did with Buffy. Not a demon, a vampire or even the damn Watchers, only him he thought with pride. 

“So did anything happen while I was away?” he inquired as he dropped onto the sofa and began to relax.

“Yeah actually something did,” Buffy responded as she brought him his cup of tea. “We stumbled upon what looked a commando team in Sunnydale trying to take down a bunch of demons,” she informed him, quickly gaining his attention. “They were not using lethal weaponry from what I could see and from what I heard they wanted to capture them,” she told him as she sat down and quickly curled up against him. “What really annoyed me is they were wearing balaclavas so we couldn’t see their faces. I wonder what a unit like that is doing in Sunnydale?” she finished. 

Angel didn’t respond as his mind was going a mile a minute as he took in this new information. He didn’t like the sound of it, not one bit. Had he still been a vampire when he got this news, his first response would be to wipe the unit out. However there was nothing he could do now as a human, more than likely once the demon community found out about them they would deal with the commandos if they became too much of a threat. 

“I suggest you keep out of their way Buffy,” Angel finally told Buffy. “I don’t like the sounds of this idea of them capturing demons. If they see you in action or the others they might think you are demonic yourselves and try and capture you all so they can experiment on you,” he warned her actually serious.

Buffy frowned in response, at first before she nodded her head as what Angel had said made sense. If this commando unit was here to capture and study demons then they would also be interested in people who could use magic or bench press their entire unit. There was however one question that continued to plague her mind, she glanced at Angel and decided to ask him. 

“How did they find out about all this?” she asked him. 

“I don’t know Buffy but maybe the people aren’t as stupid as we always believed them to be,” Angel responded with a shrug of his shoulders. “Maybe they’ve known for a while and are only now prepared to act,” he suggested with a frown as he tried to figure out how this would affect them. 

+ROTV+

(Summer’s residence)

Faith paused in her search as she was digging into Buffy’s weapon’s chest. She had seen right at the bottom two planks of wood covering the bottom. Planks that should not have been there, removing the last of the weapons she removed the planks to find what could only be a scroll at the bottom. She glanced back to where Tara and Joyce were standing as she removed the scroll and opened it so they could all look at it.

“Son of a bitch,” Faith said with a shake of her head. “He was telling the truth, the scroll is real,” she stated. She had known there was a good possibility Xander had been telling the truth, but she had hoped in one sense that he had been lying. Now she had proof that Buffy and Amy had really committed a crime, a crime that went against all they stood for.

For Tara it was vindication that her belief in Xander had not been mistaken, that she had not made a mistake in letting her heart lead her. But it also increased her fear of Amy. Pulling off this spell took a lot of power. More than she had believed Amy had access to and that knowledge chilled her. 

Joyce however stared at the scroll in disbelief, for her it was a conformation that her daughter may have done the unbelievable. That she may have betrayed a friend so she could make her vampiric lover human, she found it hard to focus as she collapsed onto Buffy’s bed. 

“Joyce, are you okay?” Tara instantly asked in concern.

Joyce didn’t answer as she just stared ahead in complete disbelief. Tara decided not to push the older woman and left her to her thoughts. She did give Faith a concerned look which was shared by the dark haired Slayer. They both knew this had to be hard on the older woman. 

“So now we have the scroll Faith, what do we do with it?” Tara inquired. 

Faith didn’t know how to answer that particular question right now, but at least they had the proof they had been searching for. They knew now that Xander had been telling the truth, which at least clarified things for them on where they stood in this mess.

“I don’t know yet Tara, but now that we have it we know where we stand,” Faith finally responded, locking gazes with Tara. “Now we move carefully, we’ll hide the scroll somewhere they can’t find it until we need it,” she told her as she turned and began to replace the two planks of wood and then the weapons from the chest. “Now we need to track down Xander and have a long overdue talk,” she stated firmly. 

Tara nodded in agreement before turning back to Joyce who seemed to be coming back to reality. “Joyce you need to act normally if Buffy shows up,” she stated, gently gaining the elder woman’s attention. “You can’t let her know for an instant that any of us knows the truth,” she added. 

“I realize that Tara,” Joyce managed to respond. “I will do my best not to give her any reason to suspect that I know the truth,” she promised confidently. “Now I suggest you leave and find Xander and ensure he agrees to meet me,” she told them both in a much firmer voice. 

Faith and Tara both nodded and quickly turned and headed downstairs with Joyce right behind them. Faith hid the scroll in the sleeve of her jacket so it was hidden from view. Leaving the house they both said goodbye to Joyce. Once they were out of sight Joyce closed and locked the door. She then headed for her kitchen and pulled a bottle of whiskey out of one of her cupboards, pouring herself a drink which she downed in one go. She was about to pour another when she finally couldn’t deal with it anymore, she broke down crying as the full impact of what Buffy had done hit her. 

+ROVT+

(Larson, Graveyard)

Xander stood on a nearby tree alongside Spike as they waited for any sign of the commando’s. They had underlings posted throughout the graveyards all with mobile phones so they could call in a sighting. Xander had learned vampires had quickly picked up on any new technology mankind created only a few months after being turned, it had been an eye opening realization. Before when he had been human he had never really thought about vampires knowing much about new technology. He supposed that had been a short sighted view to have considering how long they had survived undetected in the world. 

“We’ll have to be careful how we do this mate,” Spike told him as he lit up a cigarette.

“Actually all we have to do is wait for them to run into some trouble and then we take advantage,” Xander shot back. “Grab one of them in the midst of a fight and they will think he was killed during it. We turn him and then once we have the information we need from him we send him back with the story he was knocked out during the fight,” he explained with a cocky smile. “He can then let us into the base from the inside. If we leave it a day or two he can turn a few of his friends and build up a small assault force within their own numbers, making out attack easier,” he pointed out. 

Spike considered the plan for a few minutes before he smiled as he blew smoke out of his mouth, he had to admit the plan was inventive. “I like it, but if we send him back in he’ll have to be careful not to be exposed otherwise we lose our way in,” he warned. “I mean how do we know they don’t know how to keep an eye out for our kind?” he inquired. 

“We don’t know if they do Spike,” Xander conceded thoughtfully. “However I don’t think they do. They have only been here a week or so,” he countered. “So I doubt they know jack shit about anything, which is why they are capturing demons and if I miss my guess vampires,” he added. “They want to know what we are capable of so they can devise ways of fighting us, more than likely also to find ways of controlling us,” he continued, using the soldier memories he still retained to analyze how the commando unit would work. 

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Spike growled as he threw the butt of his cigarette away. “I think if our plan works we take the majority of them out permanently,” he stated. 

“Agreed, they are clearly going to be trouble if they are allowed to stay here and get fortified,” Xander agreed with a nod of his head. “I just want to know how they found out about all this,” he mused as Spike’s phone went off. 

He watched as Spike answered the phone, he really wanted to go and find Tara and explain everything but this had to be done first. He quickly took note of the grin on Spike’s face, looks like they were on. 

“Game time mate,” Spike told him as he put his phone back in his pocket. “We have them, Wilson graveyard,” he told him. 

“Then let us go have some fun,” Xander replied before he dropped of the tree and headed for the correct graveyard with Spike right behind him.


End file.
